


There's Good In Everyone

by Smectic



Category: Underfell-fandom, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Adult Frisk, Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Asgore is a tyrant, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Female Frisk, Hurt/Comfort, Not all the monsters are bad (they don't have much of a choice), Not your average Underfell story, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26644336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smectic/pseuds/Smectic
Summary: Luck didn't favor me that one night. I didn't just lose my job, I also had been a witness. The Bakery. The same place I loved working at, was burned down that night. I was still inside when it happened. The Mafia who ran my city came to collect the "protection" fee that night. The elderly couple who ran the place couldn't pay up. The collector wasn't amused, so he had his men make an example out of them. He killed them. He thought It be hilarious if he were to burn the place down. So he had done exactly that. I managed to escape through the backdoor, but it was all for naught. I was standing in an alleyway, surrounded my bulky men. They probably knew I was inside and had been waiting for me there the entire time. I thought they'd kill me on the spot, but they didn't. They had something far worse in stored for me. "We can't have a witness, now can we?" One man said. So they took me the mountain. I tried screaming for help, but nobody heard. When we arrived at the mountain, they didn't even hesitate pushing me in. It was a long fall down. I thought I had already died and was just reliving the experience again. At some point, I finally made it to the bottom. And that's how my adventure began.
Relationships: Frisk/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 20





	1. Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an Underfell fanfic. I had intentionally skipped the Ruins for a reason. But I will have Frisk explain what happened to her in the far future.

“It’s so cold,” I mumble to myself. The cold breeze coming into contact with my skin, sending a shiver down my spine. I notice that I was surrounded by trees covered in snow. Not only were they covered in snow, they have also wilted. I glanced up to look at… the red sky?

Toriel never told me the sky would be red, and that the outside would be this cold. I needed to get out of this snow as fast as possible. I grabbed both of my arms, rubbing it as fast as possible to regain some of the heat I lost, before I turn into a human popsicle.

I glance to my left, noticing a strange looking bush, it looked like there’s something inside of it. I approach the strange looking bush, it looked like it had lost most of its color over the years. I brought my face closer to fully inspect the dying bush, and that’s when I noticed... a camera?

What was a camera doing inside that bush? My anxiety started to spike, if there’s a camera then it means someone is watching me. I swiftly backed away from the camera and stared back at the only path that lead deeper into the forest.

I took a step forward, being very wary of my surroundings. It was difficult walking in the snow, it made my movements a lot slower, and the freezing cold didn’t help much either.

After what felt like 3 minutes of constant walking, I stumbled upon a broken branch, it was too big to be used as a weapon and was quite thorny.

I took one final look at the branch, disappointed I couldn't use it to protect myself if something were to attack me, not like I would try to harm it. After being a good distance away from the branch, I heard a loud snap from behind me. I instantly turned around, looking for the source of the noise. I noticed that the branch was broken in half, as if someone had stomped on it. 

I wasn’t alone, and the realization made my heart start pounding. I glanced at every direction, desperately hoping whomever did this wasn't out to get me. I quickly turned around, walking down the path a bit faster and being far more wary than I was before.

I've been walking mostly in silence, the only other thing I could hear was the wind. I hoped it would had stayed that way, but luck didn't favor me this time around. I heard footsteps slowly approaching from behind me. My heart was pounding so fast that I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

I turned my head around, hoping it was just my imagination. To my relief, there was nobody and my anxiety started to dwindle, but it was short-lived. My anxiety was beginning to spike yet again, my heart was beating so fast I could hear it, my whole body was trembling with fear. The level of fear I was experiencing was so bad, that I simple task like standing was difficult.

I hesitantly walked back to the now broken tree branch. I saw footprints that weren't made by me, it was bigger than the ones I made. The frightening fact that I was not alone, made my body go into fight or flight mode.

I instinctively turned back to face the path in front of me, and I dashed down the path as fast as my body would allow me to. I didn’t turn around, afraid of what would happen if I stopped running, afraid of the horrors I would experience again, afraid of the pain I would relive again, like I did in the ruins.

I ran, I ran, I ran, never once turning around. My body was in pain from my lack of daily exercise and I was forced to stop. I fell on the cold, now slightly wet ground. Despite it being incredibly cold, my whole body was on fire. I greedily inhaled oxygen, the constant running made my legs hurt, I felt all kind of pains running through my upper body. I felt like vomiting, but I didn’t care as long as I was far away from whoever was following me.

After lying on the cold, wet ground for who knows how long, I reluctantly stood up, shaking my whole body, trying to get most of the snow off of me. My throat felt dry, and scooping a handful of snow into my mouth didn't seem too bad. I felt really cold, my black shorts and leggings, my black and red striped sweater were wet from lying on the snow. The fact that I was wet plus the dangerously cold weather made my skin turn a bit blue.

I tried my best to fix my mucky hair, my hair was a bit wet, covered in dirt and snow. My bangs were slightly blocking my line of view, I subconsciously wiped my bangs away from my eyes.

I looked ahead of me, noticing a bridge with a gate too big to stop anyone from crossing. I approach the bridge, but before I could continue, I heard footsteps approaching from behind me again. I couldn’t move, paralyzed with fear, and the cold just made this whole situation worse for me. The footsteps growing louder and louder, until it went completely silent.

“Human,” The voice said, menacingly, “don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around, and shake my hand.”

My whole body was quivering so badly, but I reluctantly did what the voice said, and I slowly turned around.

I notice the monster was holding out it’s hand, waiting for me to shake it. I slowly brought my hand to the monsters, it was cold and… boney? “Ppppppfffffttttttt” A loud noise came from the monster hand.

“Hahahah! The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It’s always funny.” The monster said, through laughter. I was stunned, not completely sure how to react.

“Hey, you alright? That was yer cue to react or to emot at all.” The monster said, waiting for my reply. “O-oh, I’m sorry! I was just caught off guard, I didn't expect you'd have something like that.” I yelled. “It’s alright, I’m Sans by the way, Sans the skeleton.” Sans said, with a bit of humor in his voice. This monsters name was Sans? Now that I look closer, he is indeed a skeleton.

I scan Sans top to bottom. I he was wearing a pair of red sneakers, black shorts with yellow stripes, a red turtleneck, a black jacket with a yellow hem and a yellow furred hoodie, his teeth were sharp as kitchen knives, one of his canines looked like it was made of gold, and his left eye were a glowing crimson red, while the other eye socket was empty.

“I-I’m Frisk!” I said, a bit too loudly. “It’s n-nice to meet you.” Sans just stared at me, looking at me from top to bottom. The smile on his grew wider, exposing his golden canine yet again. “Yer a human right, that’s hilarious.” Sans said. Why was hefinding me being a human humorous?

“You know, I’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans, but I don’t really care about capturing anybody,” Sans said, lazily, putting his hands in his jackets pockets. “now my brother on the other hand… he’s a human hunting fanatic. Hey, I think that’s him over there.” Sans said, pointing at the bridge.

I could see someone approaching from afar. “We better hide you,” Sans said, forcefully pushing me a gross the bridge. “quick, behind that conveniently shaped lamp.”

I swiftly made my way behind the lamp, hiding myself from Sans’ brother. It was quite convenient that there happened to be a lamp, that was conveniently shaped like my body. Wait! This isn't going to work! I left footprints when I was coming over here. Hopefully, Sans noticed it. I heard Sans's brother approaching, I couldn’t clearly see them, and I didn't want to give me location away, but I did notice he was really tall.

“Sup, boss.” Sans said, nonchalantly. “SANS! YOU LAZY PICE OF SHIT!” The taller skeleton yelled. “IT’S BEEN 8 DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED YOUR TRAPS. ALL YOU DO IS TELL HORRIBLE JOKES AND BOONDOGGLE ALL DAY! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES BY?!”

“Maybe this lamp will help?” Sans said, pointing to the conveniently shaped lamp. “Was Sans trying to help or screw me over!” I thought to myself.

“SANS! YOU WASTE OF OXYGEN! TAKE THIS SERIOUS! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! THE SOONER I CAPTURE A HUMAN, THE SOONER I GET TO BE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD!” The taller skeleton roared.

“Huh, sounds like you’ve been working yourself… down to the **bone**.” Sans replied. “OH MY FUCKING GOD SANS! I WILL FUCKING CASTRATE YOU! UGH! IF YOU NEED ME, I WILL BE ATTENDING TO MY TRAPS… AS FOR YOU… YOU BETTER DO YOUR JOB OR ELSE I’LL BE FORCED TO PUNISH YOU! The taller skeleton threateningly said, before walking off, leaving me and Sans to ourselves.

“The coast is clear, you can come out now.” Sans said. I came out from behind the lamp, looking mildly infuriated, and relieved. Relief that is wasn't found by some miracle, and slightly annoyed that I was almost ratted out.

“What’s with that look?” Sans asked, confusingly. “Are you trying to help me or what?!” I yelled at him. “I don’t remember ever saying I’ll help you?” Sans replied, with a humorous smirk on his face. “nah, I’m just messing with ya. If you really want my help, then I guess I could lend a hand, might as well have some fun in the process.”

“Wait, why are you going to help me exactly?” I asked, confused. “Made a promise to a mutual friend of ours.” Sans replied. A mutual friend? “well, I’ll be up ahead if ya need me, also I’ll be keeping an eye socket out for ya.” Sans said, walking in the opposite direction, leaving all by myself.

“Oh wait!” Sans shouted, turning around walking past me to what it looks to be one of this sentry station Toriel told me about. He was rummage through that station looking for something. “Found it,” Sans said, walking to me. “your probably cold, and it's actually not a good idea to leave you like that. We call this "Sea Tea", it should keep ya warm for a little while.” Sans said, giving me this "Sea Tea", before walking back to the opposite path.

I’ll admit, I was confused by why Sans was walking in the opposite direction, or why he even gave me this "Sea Tea, but regardless, I was grateful for his small act of kindness. I believe that actions speak louder than words, and Sans doesn't seem all too bad, even though he was making me run for my life not to long ago. 

I took small sips from the hot sea tea, it tasted alright I guess. The best way I can describe the taste, would be tea without any sugar. I finished drinking the sea tea, putting the now empty mug of "Sea Tea" in my inventory. I could feel my body warming up a bit “I should try to give him something back.” I thought to myself.

I turned back to see if Sans was still somewhere nearby, but he had completely vanished. I could still see his footprints in the snow, but it came to a holt, like he had completely vanished.

I turned back to the main path and walked towards the direction the taller skeleton had gone. I could still see the fresh footprints that were left behind.

After walking for a few minutes in the cold snowy forest, I saw a glowing yellow stare in the distance. “My SAVE point!” I yelled, with excitement. I ran towards the glowing stare, eagerly wanting to place my hand upon it.

I stood in front of the yellow stare, placing my hand upon it, hearing the familiar sound, confirming that all my progress have been SAVED. A warmth spread through my body, but that wasn’t all, I was also filled with a newfound DETEMINATION. The DETEMINATION to get out of the underground and to free the monsters from their prison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoped you enjoyed the first chapter! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section, whether it being positive or negative, I'll welcome it.


	2. SKELETONS AND TRAPS

I heaved out a heavy sigh, shifting my gaze from the glowing yellow star, facing the main path once again. Before I could continue forward, I felt the ground vibrating beneath my feet. I gazed down at the ground, something was emerging from the snow.

I stumbled back a bit, pathetically holding out my arms in a defense position. I braced myself, waiting for whatever was about to emerged out of the snow. It was... a flower?

“Flowey!?” I yelled, in surprise. “Who else?” Flowey said. I hurriedly moved towards Flowey, kneeling down to his level. “Where have you been, I thought you abandoned me?!” I yelled at Flowey. Flowey flinched at my sudden outburst.

“I’m sorry.” I said, holding out my hands in a apologetic manner. “It’s just… I thought you weren’t coming back.” I murmured, dropping my head, facing the ground.

“Look, I’m sorry ok,” Flowey apologized. “I didn’t like the idea of leaving you alone, but I had to.” “What do you mean by… you had to?” I asked, clearly confused by what Flowey meant.

“I was scoping out the area for you,” Flowey said, as if it was obvious what he was doing the entire time. “I also took the time to get you a few things for the road. It’s in that box over there, hurry, before someone decides to get it for themselves.” 

Flowey lifted one of his vines out from the snow, pointing it in the direction of the main path. I glanced over to where Flowey was pointing at.

I saw the box Flowey was talking about. It was a few feet away from me, not sure how I missed it? I got back on my feet, swiftly making my way towards it. The box was mostly covered in snow. I decided to wipe off most of the snow, the box was a nice dark brown.

I opened the box, the only thing inside was a yellow bandana and a pair of black gloves. 

“Where’d you get these?” I asked, my gaze focused on Flowey. Flowey burrowed back underneath the ground, popping out of the snow right beside me. “Does it matter?” Flowey asked. “Yes, it matters!” I retorted. “Flowey… I don’t want to wear something that was stolen… “ “Look, I got you these so you wouldn’t freeze out here.” Flowey said, growing irritated. “I didn’t steal those by the way. Just put them on before your fingers fall off or something.

I gave Flowey a disappointing look, but reluctantly did what Flowey said. I didn’t like doing this, mainly because I had no idea where Flowey got these, and I knew he wouldn’t tell me where he got them.

I wrapped the bandana around my neck, then I slid my fingers inside the gloves. I turned back to Flowey. “How do I look? “ I asked, doing a little pose, waiting for his response. “Alive.” Flowey answered. Yeah, not sure what I was expecting.

“Flowey?” I said. “what?” Flowey replied. “Thank you.” I said, giving him a soft smile. “Whatever.” Flowey mumbled, not expecting for it to be so genuine. 

“Frisk?” Flowey said, his expression growing serious. “Hm?” I hummed in response. “Remember when I said I was scoping out the area?” Flowey asked. “I remembered.” I replied. 

“OK, listen up.” Flowey demanded, my attention fixed on what his about to say. “If you keep heading down the main path, eventually you’ll run into Papyrus. He's not far from us, unfortunately. Papyrus is one of or even the most dangerous monster in this area. Make sure he doesn’t get the chance to capture you at all costs, it’s not gonna end well for you. Papyrus possesses a very rare type of magic, blue magic. When a blue magical attack is hurtled your way, don’t move and you won’t be hurt. Think of it as a stop sign. Now, I highly doubt that you can hold your own against Papyrus. Papyrus has a very big ego, no, big would be an understatement. You can use his own ego to your advantage if you're smart. He also loves puzzles, and for some reason, he calls them his traps. They aren’t deadly enough to kill, but they will hurt if you're not careful. 

I crossed my arms, pouting my lips, and turned my head away from Flowey. “I’ll have you know, I can defend myself pretty well actually.” I scoffed. “Yeah, but you can’t bring yourself into hurting others, so we’ll have to play dirty.” Flowey retorted.

“OK, now where was I.” Flowey mumbled. “There’s a bunch of the royal guards that patrol this area. They’re mostly made up of dogs. The first dog you’ll meet is blind, he can only see moving things, and the only type of magic he can use is blue magic. The second dog you’ll meet… he isn't dangerous, just pet him and he’ll leave you alone. The third dog you’ll meet, there’s two of them. I’m at a loss of how to deal with those two. They’re not the brightest of muds, try convincing them you’re a dog or something. If you somehow manage to get through them, you’ll meet the final guard dog. Despite his size, he's still just a dog. Try playing with him, he’ll eventually exhaust himself. After that, you’ll enter the town of Snowdin. That's where all the other monsters are. You’ll be fine there, most of them haven’t even seen a human before. And luckily for you, it's gonna be night soon, so there shouldn't be that many of them outside. You got all that?” 

I was overwhelmed with all this information Flowey threw at me, but I nodded. I could tell Flowey wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t say anything.

“OK… I guess I’ll be seeing you.” Flowey said, about to leave. My mind wandered to Sans. “Wait?!” I yelled, which prevented Flowey from leaving. 

Flowey glances back at me. He didn’t say anything. I guess he was waiting for me to continue.

“What do you know about Sans?” I asked. Flowey didn’t say anything, he just stared at me. It was silent between us, but Flowey broke the silence. “Smiley Trashbag, what about him?” Flowey spat, disdain mix with his words. "It’ll be better if you stay away from him and make sure he doesn’t find out about your ability to Reset.” Flowey warned, before burrowing back underground, leaving me all alone again. 

I just stood there, perplexed by Flowey’s warning. Did Flowey know something about Sans? I’ll have to ask Flowey the next time he decides to show up again. Hopefully, it would be soon. 

I turned back to the main path, preparing myself for an encounter with this Papyrus character. 

With a heavy sigh, I stepped forward. I was growing more and more nervous with each step a took. Papyrus was dangerous, and I had to make sure that he didn’t capture me. Flowey never said what will happen if Papyrus did capture me, but I’d assume it’ll be an awful experience for me.

I was lost in thought for the entirety of the walk, thinking of ways I could convince Papyrus into not capturing me, but I couldn't come up with anything. 

I was brought back to reality, by a loud voice snapping me out of my thoughts. I glance ahead of me. I could see Sans in the distance, with his taller brother right beside him. I kept on walking, their conversation becoming more audible the closer I got. 

“AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE!” Papyrus shouted, before looking in my direction. Undyne? Toriel told me a bit about her, I should probably ask Sans or Flowey more about her later. 

Papyrus glanced at me, then back at Sans. Sans did the same, his grin grew a bit when he saw me. I guess he was kinda excited to see me again?

“SANS!” Papyrus yelled. “Yeah, boss?” Sans replied. “IF I’M NOT MISTAKEN, THAT WOULD BE A HUMAN CORRECT?!” Papyrus asked, glaring at me. 

Now that I had a good look at Papyrus, he has a scar running from his right eye, sharp teeth, and red eyes, his battle body consists of a faded red and black color scheme, with broad, spiked shoulder armor, red gloves, and black tight pants, his red scarf is the highlight of his armor. 

“If memory serves me correct, then yes.” Sans responded.

“AHEM!” Papyrus coughed. “HALT HUMAN, I SHALL NOT LET YOU MOVE PAST THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN PROCEED TO CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN, KING ASGORE WILL HAVE YOU EXECUTED, THEN HE’LL ABSORBED YOUR SOUL, WITH THE OTHER SIX HE HAS AT HIS DISPOSAL, HELL TURN HIMSELF INTO A GOD AND FREE US MONSTERS FROM OUR PRISON! THEN WE'LL GO TO WAR WITH THE HUMANS, KILL THEM ALL, AND TAKING BACK WHAT WAS STOLEN FROM US!”

I was completely mortified. Now I understood why Flowey said I’d have to do everything in my power not to be captured. 

“IN ANY CASE, CONTINUE IF YOU DARE! NOT LIKE IT WOULD MATTER! NEYEHE HEH! Papyrus Maliciously cackled, before walking off to the first trap I’d assume. Papyrus’s laughter died down the further he walked away from us. 

I turned my attention to Sans, he was staring off into nowhere before he noticed me staring at him.

“What?” He said, confused. “Is it true?” I said, barely audible. “About what Papyrus said?” Sans asked. I nodded, hoping he’d say no. “Yeah, everything boss said was mostly true.” “Don’t worry though, I’m keeping an eye socket out for ya remember. I’ll eventually pull something out my non-existent ass.”

I chuckled a bit, giving Sans a soft smile. He lifted his bone brow. “What’s with the smile? Yer creeping me out here.” Sans asked, growing uncomfortable with this situation. “Sans?” I asked, my smile growing slightly. “What’s up?” Sans replied, trying to sound casual as possible. “I’d like to thank you…. for everything you're doing for me so far.” I said, Sans growing even more uncomfortable. It seemed like he wasn’t used to being thanked.

“It’s nothing really,” Sans nervously said, not facing me anymore. “It’s not like I had anything better to do.” “No, Sans.” I retorted. “Not everyone down here would have done what you did. Most monsters down here would have killed me, or captured me, but you didn’t do any of that. You decided to help me, even when you knew that you wouldn't have gained anything from this. I really want to repay you, Sans, just tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you if it’s within my power.”

I was impatiently waiting for Sans’s response. Sans just stood there, rubbing his chin, signaling that he was in deep thought about my offer. After a moment of complete silence, he finally spoke. “How about a hangout?” Sans suggested. “A… hangout?” I said, not expecting this. “Yeah, a hangout,” Sans said. “You don’t seem like a piece of shit that’s out to kill someone, so I’d like us to become buds. I know a great place we can go to. It’s not anything fancy, but it’s a nice place to go and relax if ya got nothing better to do. And if yer worried about the other monsters killing ya, don’t be, most of them haven’t even seen a human, and they wouldn’t kill ya if they know yer with me. I’m a pretty likable guy, you know? Not like they would, most of everyone in Town are pleasant people."

I just stared at Sans. If I was being completely honest, I half expected him to ask something indecent of me. That's what most men wanted from me. I should've given Sans more credit. The idea of a hangout never even crossed my mind. 

Now that I thought about it, we both could benefit from this. He gets to know more about me, and I could learn more about the underground and my new ally.

I gave Sans a thumb up, and the sweetest smile I could manage. “OK then,” Sans said, a bit more excited. “if you somehow manage to make it through my bro and the dogs, we get to go on our hangout. “Yeah, I guess we do.” I confirmed.

“Welp, you better be on yer way, don’t wanna keep my bro waiting.” Sans said. “Yeah, I’ll see you up ahead,” I said, walking past Sans. “Oh, wait a minute Sans!” I yelled, turning around. “Hm?” Sans hummed. “I still need to give you this back.” I replied, opening my inventory, rummaging through it, searching for the mug of "Sea Tea" Sans gave me. “Here you go. I almost forgot to give you this back to you.” 

Once again, Sans was cut off guard by my actions. He just stared at the mug, then glancing over to me. “Thanks?” Sans said, taking the mug back.

“Bye.” I said, walking past him. “See ya.” Sans said, giving me a goodbye wink.

I’ve been walking for a while now. It’s been mostly silent. I didn’t like it when it was silent, it only made me anxious. Like at anytime someone could jump out behind the trees and attack me. I know even if I die, I can come back, but it doesn’t make the concept of dying any easier.

As I was walking, I could see what looks to be another sentry station coming into view. I gulped, this must be the first guard dog Flowey talked about. If a remember correctly, this dog is blind, and can only see me if I’m moving. 

I approach the station, I was expecting someone to come out, but there was no. He must be on his break. My anxiety was replaced by relief. Relief that he wasn’t here at the moment. I started walking away from the sentry station but came to a halt when I heard a voice behind me. I immediately stopped, my body stiffened. 

I glanced back at the sentry station, with the guard dog coming out of it. Was he hiding this entire time? 

His fur was white, he was wearing a black tank top and green camo pants, with a dog collar wrapped around his neck.

“Did something move?” The dog growled. “Was it my imagination? I can only see moving this. If something did move…. For example, a human. Then I’ll make sure it never moves again.”

How was I supposed to beat this guy if I couldn’t even move. I just stood there, facing the blind dog. How was he able to join the royal guard if he’s blind?

To my shock and surprise, the dog started slowly walking towards me. He must’ve picked up my scent or something. I still didn’t move. I wasn’t sure if I could outrun the dog, and I didn’t want to find out. 

After he cautiously walked towards me, he was directly in front of me. He smelled of burnt dog treats. It smelled horrific, I was forced to hold in my breath.

“I may not be able to see you very clearly,” The dog growled. “but I can still smell you. Who the hell are you!? If you don’t tell me right now, then I’ll have no choice but to end you.”

I didn’t want to tell him who I was, and I couldn’t come up with a convincing lie at the time. I had to do something or else he’d kill me for sure. Maybe if I tried petting him, would he let me go?

I lifted my hand, petting his head. His tail was wagging excitedly. 

“What!” The dog barked. “I’ve been pet! Pet! Pet! Pet!” The dog backed away from me, I did the same.

“S-s-s-something pet me?” The dog stuttered. “Something that wasn’t moving. I’m gonna need some dog treats for this.” The dog turned, walking back to his station. I dropped my shoulders, letting out a sigh I didn’t know I was holding.

I slowly walked away from the guard dog, making sure not to alert him again. I walked until the station was out of sight.

My stomach let out a loud growl. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, trying to reduce the noise. It’s been a few days since I actually had something edible to eat. The food Toriel gave me wasn’t enough, and I had to vomit some of it out. Who knew that monster dust and pie didn’t go so great, plus it was burned.

My body started shivering once again. Even with the bandana and the gloves, the cold was slowly making its way into my body. I’ll have to ignore it for a little while more. I kept on walking until I saw a tall figure come into view. That must be Papyrus… and Sans? How did he get here before me? I’ll have to ask him another thing at our hangout later.

Papyrus noticed me approaching. “AH, THE HUMAN FINALLY ARRIVED!” Papyrus shouted. “I MUST PRAISE YOU, HUMAN. I DID NOT EXPECT YOU TO MAKE IT THROUGH DOGGO! DESPITE HIS LACK OF VISION, HE’S NO PUSHOVER! OF COURSE, HE’S NO MATCH FOR, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, BUT NOW THAT HE’S DEAD, I’LL HAVE TO REPORT THIS TO CAPTAIN UNDYNE!”

“Wait!” I yelled, both Sans and Papyrus’s attention now on me. “I-I didn’t kill him. He’s still at his station.” Papyrus’s eyes widened from surprise. I guess he was expecting me to kill or be killed by Doggo.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Papyrus Asked. “I didn’t kill him.” I repeated. “WELL… THIS WAS UNEXPECTED! IF WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE, THEN THAT MEANS YOU ARE FAR MORE DANGEROUS THEN I HAD ANTICIPATED! I MUST WATCH OUT FOR ANY OF YOUR TRICKERY!”

Great, now Papyrus is gonna be guarded. How am I supposed to convince him now? I glance over to Sans, he just sends a wink my way. I wave in return. Papyrus didn’t notice the exchange between me and Sans, still perplexed by what he heard. I’m kinda glad about it. Who knows how’d he react if he finds out his brother has been helping me?

“ANYWAY!” Papyrus shouted. My attention turning over to him. “IN ORDER TO ENTERTAIN OURSELVES, FOR THE TIME BEING, MY EXCUSE OF A BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME TRAPS! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS TRAP… QUITE SHOCKING! FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE INVISIBLE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORP WILL ADMINISTER A NASTY ZAP! IT’S HONESTLY FUN TO WATCH!"

“Hey boss?” Sans chimed in. “WHAT IS IT, BROTHER?!” Papyrus asked. “I think the human is supposed to hold the orb.” Papyrus gasped in response. “YOU’RE RIGHT BROTHER! HOW COULD I, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, FORGET SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT?!”

Papyrus made his way towards me, walking in multiple different directions. “HERE YOU GO HUMAN!” Papyrus said, giving me the orp, making his way back to Sans. 

“YOU MAY PROCEED HUMAN!” Papyrus said. I looked at the footprints Papyrus had left in the snow. I could easily make it through this maze, but it didn’t feel right doing that to Papyrus, who went through all the effort of making this trap for me.

I took my time making my way through this maze, purposely walking into the invisible walls, zapping myself in the process, getting a cackle out of Papyrus. The zaps didn’t hurt that bad, but it did sting. Eventually, I made my way out of the maze, Papyrus’s grin grew seeing me succeed.

“CONGRATULATIONS HUMAN!” Papyrus praised. “I HONESTLY DID NOT EXPECT YOU TO SOLVE IT SO EASILY! HUMANS MUST BE QUITE INTELLIGENT IF THEY’RE ABLE TO SOLVE MY TRAPS SO EASILY!”

“You give us too much credit Papyrus.” I said, given him a playful smile. “I just got lucky that’s all.” Papyrus shook his head. “WHEN THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, PRAISES YOU, YOU ACCEPT IT! BUT, I DO ADMIRE YOUR MODESTY.”

“Thank you, Papyrus.” I said, giving him a toothy smile. “That means a lot coming from someone great as you.” Papyrus’s red eyes started glowing a bit. I guess my words had more of an effect on him than I thought. “NEYEHE! THAT’S RIGHT HUMAN, IT’S NOT OFTEN I PRAISE SOMEONE, YOU SHOULD FEEL HONORED! HOWEVER, WE ARE LOSING TRACK OF TIME! HUMAN, CONTINUE IF YOU DARE, THE NEXT TRAP WON’T BE EASY AS THIS!”

Papyrus walked off, his scarf fluttering in the wind. Unfortunately, my stomach growled again, reminding me of my growing hunger. Sans noticed the growl coming from my stomach. I wrapped my arms around my stomach once again, trying to stifle the noise. It was embarrassing, having your stomach hungrily growl like that, in the presence of someone.

“You hungry?” Sans asked. I nodded my head, my cheeks growing red from the embarrassment. “You know, I also run a hotdog stand in Hotland. Next time I see ya, I’ll give you one of my tasty dogs, or cats, free of charge.”

“Really?!” I excitedly yelled, firmly grabbing his left boney hand. His phalanges were cold, my body wanted to retract my hand from his but I refused to. The thought of actual food just made me hungrier. “Yeah, think of it as a thank you, for making my bro so happy. He's been down lately, and you playing along has improved his mood."

“Sans?” I said, quietly. “You’ve already done so much for me, I can’t accept that.” I said, giving him a soft smile. “Hey, let me do this for ya,” Sans responded. “I don’t want ya dying from starvation before we have our hangout. And I can't go back on that promise I made, she'll burn my bones black if something were to happen to you."

I reluctantly agreed with Sans. If I wasn’t going to eat something soon, I’ll be too weak to defend myself, and most likely die in the snow. But who was this *she* Sans mentioned?

“Thank you, Sans.” I said, tightening my grip on his hand. “No probs,” Sans said. “You better get going before Papyrus loses his temper. He doesn’t like waiting for too long.”

I let go of his hand, walking away, before waving him goodbye. Sans just winked in response does he do that to everybody or to people he likes? I didn’t understand why Flowey warned me about Sans, he seemed so nice. I’m really looking forward to our hangout. Who knows, maybe we could become friends.

The crunching sound of the snow was the only thing joining me on my lone journey. A tall silhouette came into view, it couldn’t possibly be Papyrus, he was much taller than that. If only there hadn't been some fog here and there, it would be more beneficial for my survival. I braced myself, maybe I could avoid fighting this monster if I offer him all my G. 

I slowly made my way towards the monster, my breathing heaved slightly. The monster was facing the ground, arms crossed. I noticed what looked to be an ice-cream cart right beside the monster. 

The monster noticed me approaching, his facial expression was filled with joy. He was a bunny monster, his fur was a nice light blue. 

“Finally! A customer!” The bunny monster enthusiastically shouted. I flinched a bit at his sudden enthusiasm. He mistook me for a customer, maybe if I play along he’ll let me go. “Hello! Would you like to try some of my "Nice Cream! It’s the frozen treat that warms your soul.! It’s only 15G!”

I only had about 11G on me, and even if I did have 15G, I wouldn’t want to buy something cold in this weather. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have enough G to afford it.” I apologized, letting out a nervous chuckle. His whole body seemed to deflate by my words. I’d assume he hasn’t made much money, since he was selling frozen treats in this type of weather. 

He crossed his arms again, giving me an irritated look. I backed away slightly, afraid of him attacking me, but he didn’t.

“If you ain’t buying anything, then get lost!” The bunny growled. I held up my hands, trying to create a barrier between us. 

“I’m sorry for wasting your time.” I nervously said. The bunny’s expression softened. “The next time I see you, I’ll definitely buy one, if I have enough G, I promise.” The bunny monster drops his arms to his side, a smile growing slightly on his face.

“I apologize for my rude behavior.” The bunny apologized, his whole body deflated once again. “It isn’t smart for a businessman to scare off his customers. It’s just...business hasn’t been great lately…I’ve hadn’t had any customers in the past week.”

I felt sympathy for the bunny, maybe I could try encouraging him. “Hey now,” I said, my voice firm. “there will come a time where things won’t always go our way, but that doesn’t mean we should give into despair. The answer you’re looking for will come to you someday, you just need to be patient, I promise.”

I couldn’t believe I said all that in one breathe, but it seemed to work. The bunny monster was no longer deflated, he was standing straight up, both hands on his hips, giving me a toothy grin.

“Thanks, lady!” The bunny thanked, his enthusiasm returning. “Most monsters would’ve laughed hearing me say that, but not you. You tried to encourage me, tried to give me hope, and not fall into despair. I didn’t think there was anyone still this nice around. I’d give you a nice cream free of charge if you weren’t slightly shivering already.”

I laughed, I didn’t think my words would have this kind of an effect on him. “Maybe next time we see each other,” I said, continuing forward, waving him goodbye. “You take care of yourself. Don’t want ya dead before trying my "Nice Cream". The bunny playfully said. “I’ll at least try.” I giggled.

My stomach growled loudly, maybe I should’ve taken the bunny’s offer. I shook the thought out of my head, almost forgetting about what Sans told me. As I kept on walking, I noticed a certain skeleton not far from me in the distance. 

“Sans!” I called out, jogging towards him, my arms waving crazily, trying to get his attention. He turned his head, his grin growing slightly at the sight of me. “Oh hey.” Sans casually said. 

I stood an arm's length away from Sans, panting slightly from my lack of energy. “You sure took yer time, thought you weren’t gonna show.” Sans jokingly said. “I’m sorry, didn’t mean to make you wait so long.” I said. “Don’t be, didn’t mind the alone time.” Sans shrugged. 

“Man, you sure look drained.” Sans said, his eyes exploring my frail figure. “Well, that’s what happens when you haven’t eaten anything edible in the last few days.” I jokingly said. 

Sans was rummaging through his inventory, pulling out a fresh warm hotdog, and another mug of "Sea Tea. “Here, as promised.” Sans said, giving it to me. I hesitated at first but reluctantly took it. I’m not being ungrateful or anything, it’s just that I didn’t like the fact that Sans had done so much for me already and I haven’t been able to repay him.

“Sans.” I said, giving him a soft smile. “Yeah?” Sans asked. “Thank you. I’m really grateful for everything you’ve done for me. I want to repay you, Sans, I don’t have much but I’ll feel a bit better knowing if I gave you this. I placed the "Sea Tea" in my inventory for a moment and held the hotdog in one hand while pulling out all the G I had. Sans shook his head, signaling he didn’t want my G. 

I reluctantly placed my G back in my inventory, pulling out the "Sea Tea". After a brief silence, Sans spoke. “As I said before, all I want from you is a hangout.” Sans said. 

“If that’s what you truly want, then I’ll oblige.” I said. “While yer eating the dog, I’ll be keeping you company for the time being until we reach Papyrus if you don’t mind that is?” Sans asked. “That would be nice actually.” I responded. 

We mostly walked in silence, while I was eating and drinking. The hotdog was incredibly good, I took my time eating it, enjoying each bite I took. The "Sea Tea" helped wash down the hotdog, warming up my body in the process. I gave the empty mug back to Sans, he just placed it back in his inventory.

At the rate we were going, it shouldn’t take us too long before we made our way to Papyrus. If I was being truthful, I enjoyed his company, even though we hadn’t spoken the entire time, It was nice having someone with me, now I didn’t have to be on constant guard all the time, and his presence just made me feel relaxed. 

We made our way through the other two guard dogs. At first, I was kinda worried of how I was supposed to deal with the two. The two guard dogs were both dressed in a black cloak, one was female while the other was male, they both had battle axes, this just made me even more worried. Luckily for me, Sans convinced them that I was a monster from the Ruins, who was just visiting. They didn’t question him and just left us alone, doing whatever they were busy with before they spotted us. 

“Thanks for the help back there.” I thanked. Sans shrugged in response. “Was nothing really. I didn’t want Papyrus to see you in a body bag, he’d most likely lose his shit, he wants to capture you after all.” Sans said. “Hey, speaking of Papyrus, that’s him over there.”

I glance over to where Sans was pointing, Papyrus was just a few feet away from us. 

“YOU FINALLY ARRIVED!” Papyrus shouted. “YOU ARE QUITE IMPRESSIVE HUMAN, YOU’VE MANAGED TO GET THROUGH DOGAMY AND DOGARESSA, ONE OF THE MORE POWER GUARD DOGS!”

“Yeah, and she didn’t even have to fight them.” Sans chimed in. “IS THAT SO?!” Papyrus asked, placing one hand on his boney hip, while the other was rubbing the side of his scalp. “THIS IS QUITE THE UNUSUAL HUMAN WERE DEALING WITH, WHATEVER COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE PLOTTING HUMAN?!” I wasn’t plotting anything, I just don’t want to get into a conflict with anyone.

“IT’S DOESN’T MATTER FOR NOW! HUMAM, I HOPE YOU’RE READY FOR THE NEXT TRAP! LUCKILY FOR YOU, THIS ONE WAS INVENTED BY MY PATHETIC BROTHER! THIS TRAP WILL REQUIRES A KEEN INTELLECT TO SOLVE!”

“It’s a crossword puzzle,” Sans said, pointing at the crossword puzzle, which was laying on top of the snow. How hasn't this thing been blow away already? 

I went over to pick it up, it was slightly wet. It was a simple crossword puzzle, it should only take me a few minutes to finish. I was about to begin before a realization hit me.

“Hey, Papyrus?” I asked. “YES, HUMAN?” Papyrus responded. “I can’t do this without a pencil.” I told. Papyrus shot Sans an angry glare. “SANS! HOW COULD YOU FORGET TO PROVIDE THE HUMAN A PENCIL?!” Sans shrugged his shoulders, Papyrus letting out an irritated grunt.

“THIS TRAP IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SOLVE WITHOUT A PENCIL! WE’LL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SKIP THIS ONE, AND MOVE ON TO THE FINAL TRAP! SANS! LET’S GO!” Papyrus said, before walking off. 

“See ya later.” Sans said, walking toward Papyrus. Papyrus placed his hand on Sans’s shoulder, a red smoke coming off of Sans, engulfing them both. When the smoke cleared they both were gone. Is that how Sans managed to get ahead of me? So he can teleport, that's a pretty neat trick. Welp, I guess I'll just have to keep on walking. 

My legs were in pain from the non-stop walking, when was the last time I took a break. The idea of sitting on the cold snow didn’t sound too bad. I kept on walking for what felt like hours, a bridge came into view. A town on the other side. That must be Snowdin. Unfortunately, someone was blocking the way, properly the last guard dog. He was really big, his fur was white, and he was wearing armor, his weapon a spear.

All I had to do was just play with the big guy and he’ll tire himself out, right? The dog noticed me approaching, his tail was swaying from left to right. 

“Who you?” The dog growled. “And why you smell like smiley skeleton friend.” Sans was friends with this guy? Maybe I can use this to my advantage. “Oh, that’s because he's also my friend. I’m actually looking for him right now.” I lied. The dog gave me a skeptical look, before moving out of the way. 

“Any friend of smiley skeletons is friends with dogs.” The dog panted. I guess having Sans’s scent on me, was a good thing.

I walked past the guard dog, making my way toward the bridge. I was rather high up, and I couldn’t help but grow anxious. I could see a few buildings in the distance as I got closer. I couldn’t see any monsters near me. 

The first thing to greet me on the other side of the bridge, was a welcome sign. The sign read “WELCOME TO SNOWDIN”. I moved past the sign, there were a bunch buildings here, most of them being houses, and I spotted something glowing at the building nearest to me.

My save point. I jogged towards it, it was glowing as bright as ever. I place my hand upon it, a loud noise coming out from it, confirming my progress has been SAVED once again. A warmth spread through my body, it felt great. My DETERMINATION growing slightly. 

I glanced over at the building, the sign grabbing my attention. It was this town’s shop. I didn’t really have enough money to buy anything, but maybe I could get some information about this town. I made my way towards the door, turning the knop, before entering the shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually quite dissatisfied with this chapter. The next one will be better I swear.


	3. New friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry for not being active as of late. But there's no need for worry. I'll be posting a chapter once a week, and if I do find the time I'll try to make it long as possible. We all enjoy reading very long chapters, don't we?

“Why hello there.” A furry monster at the counter said. “Hello,” I responded, returning the friendly exchange between us. I closed the door behind me, my attention focused on the variety of snacks, clothing, and accessories in the store.

This store wasn’t necessarily big, but big enough to find all sorts of things you’ll need daily. I could use a new fresh pair of pants, the ones I currently have were a mess. But I don’t have the money for that, so I’ll just make do with what I have for now.

I glanced back at the furry monster, examining her. She was one of those bunny monsters I’ve seen. Her fur was a beautiful purple, her long fluffy ears dangling by the side of her head, she had a cute little black nose, her eye colour purple, she was wearing a black tank top, her bra was also sticking, it was black. She was resting her elbow on the counter. 

“I haven’t seen you around these parts, you visiting Ms…?” The monster asked. “Frisk.” I said. “Frisk? Well, that’s an odd name.” The monster exclaimed. “Odd name for an odd girl?” I said, getting a chuckle from the monster. “And you are?” I questioned. “Nora.” She answered.

“Well, Nora, to answer your question. I came from the Ruins to visit a friend.” I lied. It’s not like I wanted to lie, but I didn’t have anything else to say, and the lie Sans came up was convincing. “The Ruins?” Nora said, mostly to herself. “I didn’t think anyone still lived there?” “There aren’t many of us still living there.” I answered. The population of monsters living in the Ruins were drastically going down before I arrived, mostly cause of Toriel’s doing, but thankfully I convinced her to stop.

“How are things in the Ruins?” Nora curiously asked. “The Ruins have been… quiet. Not much happens there, except fights breaking out now and then.” I said, the smile on Nora’s face faltered slightly. “Really? I thought the Ruins would be more… peaceful.” Nora said. “Why so?” I asked, wondering how so came to that conclusion. “The underground isn’t a nice place, we both know that, we’re just lucky that Snowdin is far away from all that violence.” Nora said. “Yeah…” I murmured.

“But hey, it’s not all bad, and we’re getting sidetracked here. Did you want to buy something or you just come here to sightsee?” Nora said, her business side present. “Ah, that’s right, almost forgot why I came here.” I thought to myself.

“I wanted to know what Snowdin’s like? How this area and its people operate” I asked. “Well, aren’t you a lucky girl? Snowdin happens to be the most peaceful area of the underground. Most people came here to get away from all those murders, gang fights, drugs, and corrupted Guards. And the people here are mostly pleasant, don’t worry about getting killed here, it’s been outlawed for a few years now.” Nora happily said. I was very much surprise, and Nora could clearly see that by the look I made. Flowey wasn’t lying when he said this place would be save, I’d prefer to live here if I could afford it, but like that’s ever going to happen.

So the monsters here are mostly non-violent, I’ll be fine as long I don’t leave Snowdin, but I still have to deal with Papyrus, no doubt he lives here somewhere. Should ask about him and Sans later. 

“Is there a place I could sleep for the night, like a hotel or something?” I asked. It was starting to get late, and I needed a place to rest, but I doubt I could even afford it with the spare G I have. “You know, My sister Riley runs the Inn here, it’s just the building right next to my shop, you’ll love her.” Nora said with delight. “I didn’t know you had a sister, is she beautiful and nice like you?” I flirted, making Nora laughed as a result. “Haha! She is. Well, a bit to nice, but that’s fine as long she doesn’t leave Snowdin.” Nora said. I didn’t know Nora for long, I just met her, but so far she seems nice, and I’m enjoying our little conversation, but if Riley is like Nora, then I’ll have a pleasant time with her. 

“Do you know how much it cost to stay a night?” I asked, knowing very well I won’t be able to afford it. Nora removes her elbow from the counter, placing her hand on the side of her head, and the other hand on her hip. “What was it again… it was 24G, right? Nora asked herself. “Yep, I was right, couldn’t afford it. Now what am I supposed to do? Maybe I could find Sans somewhere and he could think of something, or Flowey would show up again and tell me what to do.” I thought.  
“Are there any businesses here that needs more people to work for them?” Making some G would make things easier for me, then I wouldn’t have to struggle with trying to find a place to sleep. “I know my sisters looking for someone to help her with cleaning. So you can go ask her about it, I’m confident you’ll get the job.” Nora said with such confidence that I believed her.

I found a place where I can get a job, if I get it, and a place to temporarily stay at. But how am I going to pay for the night, I’ll just think of something later. Now the only question I have left to ask would be about Sans and Papyrus. 

“Nora, do you know Sans and Papyrus, and if you do, what can you tell me about them.” I asked. “Those two sort of runs this area,” Nora said, the tone of her voice made it sound like it wasn’t a bad thing. “It’s cause of them that Snowdin is the way it is today. And most of everyone likes associating with them, Sans mostly, the rest don’t get too close to Papyrus for obvious reasons. Another thing about them is that they’re part of the Royal Guard, Sans is sentry-station, while Papyrus is the Lieutenant of the Guard, just behind Captain Undyne.” Nora said. 

This was unexpected, but it also made sense why Papyrus is so eager to “capture” me. So far he hasn’t made a “real” attempt to do so, he’s just been entertaining himself, and is he even going to do something? But Sans is also a guard, he has a duty to capture any humans and bring them to Asgore, so what sort of promise could he have made for him to neglect his job?

“Frisk, you alright?” Nora asked. “Huh? Oh, I’m fine. Just thinking about something.” I reassured Nora. I guess I should make my leave, don’t have anything else to ask about. But I’ll definitely come back to chat with Nora tomorrow. 

“Thanks, Nora.” I said, wishing I could stay longer, but there will be time for that tomorrow. “Hey, it’s nothing to thank about.” Nora said. “I really wish I could stay longer but I have to go now, I hope you understand?” I said, making it clear I didn’t want to leave yet. “I do understand, Frisk, but come back tomorrow and tell me how things went.” “Will do.” I said, waving Nora goodbye, she waved back. 

I left Nora’s shop, my back facing the door. The freezing cold temperature immediately welcoming me back, another why I can’t stay outside for long. The bloody red sky slowing turning pitch black. I couldn’t see anyone outside, who would want to be outside with this kind of weather. 

“You going somewhere?” A voice called out beside me. “Aaaaa!” I screamed, jumping backwards, my body hitting the door hard, creating a loud impact. “Wow, didn’t mean to scare ya like that.” The voice said. I looked over to who said that, and bless whatever god was keeping its eye on me. It was Sans, that friendly smile still presents. After calming for a few seconds, I was going ask Sans what he was thinking, but before I could ask what he was thinking, the door behind me flung opened. 

“Hey! Stop what your doing or I’ll be forc-“ Nora yelled, but stop the moment she saw who she was talking to. “Sub, Nora. It’s been a while.” Sans nonchalantly said. Nora looked between both me and Sans, trying to figure out what happened. “Hey, Sans? Mind telling me what you did? Nora asked. “Huh? What makes you think I did something? Sans asked, he sounded nervous. Nora crossed her arms, giving Sans a Stern look. “We both know you did something, Sans, spill it already.” Nora demanded, her patience wearing thin. “O-ok. I might have spooked her a bit.” Sans said, sounding even more nervous. “And you thought it was a good idea to scare a defenseless girl?” Nora asked. “Y-yeah. Yer right, I shouldn’t have done that,” Sans stuttered, turning his gaze over to me. “Frisk, could you ever find it in that merciful heart of yours to forgive this likable fool?” Sans apologized, waiting for my response. “Hey, it’s not like you tried hurting me or anything, so it’s all good.” I said, trying to defuse the sudden change of events. “Remind me to never tick off Nora, she looks about ready to take a small group of deviants.” I thought to myself. 

“If she says it’s fine, then it’s fine, ” Nora said, arms still crossed, probably cause she’s out in the cold. “Sans, how many times do I have to keep reminding you to stop scaring people like that, someone might accidentally kill you, then who knows what Papyrus will do? Nora asked, slightly irritated, her brow furrowed. “I know, I know. I’ll totally stop this time.” Sans said “That’s what you said last time.” Nora said, doubting Sans’s words. “Yeah, but the difference between this time and last time, are that the steaks are much higher, so I can’t really afford to die yet.” Sans said, his explanation vague, confusing both me and Nora. 

“What do you mean by that, Sans?” I asked, Nora also intrigued. “Sorry, but I can’t tell any of you yet, Papyrus would flip if he knew I told someone.” Sans chuckled, keeping us in the dark. “Well, it doesn’t matter I guess,” Nora spoke up. “by the way, do you two know each other?” Sans stayed quiet, leaving me to do all the talking. “Yeah… I guess you could say we’re friends.” I said. “Ah, I see,” Nora responded. “then it’s a good thing you showed up.” “Really, why so?” Sans asked. “Frisk over here is going to see my sister, you mind accompanying her?” Nora said. “Sure, I don’t mind.” Sans said. “It really isn’t necessary, Sans.” I interrupted. “Let him do it, Frisk. It’s better than going alone, there’s still the possibility of getting attacked at night, so it’ll be much safer if Sans goes with you.” Nora exclaimed. It made sense, but why do people keep thinking I can’t protect myself?

“OK, I give in.” I caved in. “Excellent! You two better get going then, it’s just about night time, I’ll be seeing you two tomorrow.” Nora happily said, giving us her farewell, before heading inside. She was quite in a hurry to leave us, I can’t blame her, I wouldn’t want to stay out long. 

“You ready?” Sans asked. “Yeah, let’s go.” I answered. We made our way to Riley’s Inn. It wasn’t far, and I’m glad for it. It was only one of the few building that still had their light on, except Nora’s. 

Sans opened the door, letting me in first. “What a gentlemen you are.” I said. “Just feel like doing something nice for my new bud is all.” Sans shrugged. There was nobody in the lounge to greet us. I was mostly observing this place, there wasn’t much to look at, except for a painting of Mount Ebot, an upstairs, a backdoor behind the counter.

“Hey, Riley! You in here!?” Sans called out. A few seconds later, another bunny monster came down, she’s probably Riley.” Oh! Hi, Sans. I didn’t hear you come in, and who’s your lady friend.” Riley asked. Riley looked almost exactly like Nora, the only difference us, she was wearing a dark blue work dress. 

“This here’s Frisk. She’s a buddy of mine and yer sister.” Sans said, pointing at me. “Is that so? Well, Frisk, I’m Riley. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Riley politely said, holding out her hand, waiting for me to shake it. I left my hand, grabbing Riley. “Pleasure to meet you two,” I said, giving her my best smile. Her fur was soft, warm and smooth, I almost didn’t want to let go, never had left something like that. We let go of each other’s hand. “Your sister told me that you needed someone to work for you, and I was hoping I could talk to you about it?” I said Riley’s eyes widened from pure joy, her mouth opened a bit. 

“Do you want to work for me!?” Riley excitedly yelled. “If you’ll allow it?” I responded. “Your such a life saver, Frisk! If been struggling with all the work, since I don’t have any employees. We can talk about tomorrow if you like.” Riley happily said. “Tomorrow would be fine.” I Joyfully exclaimed. “Wow, I didn’t expect it would go so smoothly. Nora was right, I wonder how’d she’d react that she was right about me getting the job. Now that I think about it, Riley must have been desperate for employees if she just gave me the job like that, maybe that’s why Nora said I’ll get the job.” I thought to myself. 

“Congratulations on getting a job on yer first day in Snowdin.” Sans said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “Thank you.” I responded, giving him the same happy smile I gave Riley. Sans pulled his hand off my shoulder, turning his gaze over to Riley. “I don’t mean to interrupt yer moment of happyness, but we’re getting off topic here.” Sans said, bringing both me and Riley back to our original topic. 

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean get off topic here.” I apologized. “Is there anything the both of you needed?” Riley asked. “Frisk over here wants to stay the night,” Sans said. “got any rooms left?” “There is, I’ll go get the key right now. Riley answered, walking behind the counter, searching for the key. “Hey, San?” I said. “What’s up?” “Sans, I can’t afford to stay a night.” I explained. “Don’t worry bout it. I’ll be paying.” Sans responded. “I can’t let you, Sans. You already did so much for me today, and it doesn’t sit right with me I can’t repay you.” I said, making it clear I wasn’t comfortable with this.  
“let do it for ya, made a promise I can’t go against, even by some chance I wanted to, plus your repaying me by going on that hangout of ours.” Sans responded. Sans really is a great guy, I’m glad we met. “OK, Sans.” I said, only cause I can give back his G back with my job tomorrow.

Riley came back, key in hand. “This key opens the first door you see upstairs, I’ll come by later with some food.” Riley said. I nodded. “Welp, I’ll be seeing you guys tomorrow.” Sans said, paying Riley. Red smoke coming off of Sans’s people, engulfing his intire people, when the smoke cleared he was gone.

I wonder what that must feel like? Riley went into the backroom, leaving me by myself, with nothing to do I went to my room. The room wasn’t big, only a bed, a nightstand, a couch, a lamp, and a bathroom. I took off my boots, sitting it near my nightstand, making my way to the bathroom. I had to admit, I didn’t expect there to be a shower and a bathtub, Toriel only had a bathtub. I took of my clothing, hanging them in the rails on the walls, they might dry up when I wake up tomorrow, I place my undergarments on top of the closed toilet lid. I turned on the shower, turning the nob to the right temperature. 

After doing my business, I walked out of the bathroom, only wearing my undergarments, feeling refreshed. I noticed a plate sitting on my nightstand, on top of it was a burger and some water had been left for me, Riley must have left it here. I slowly ate the burger, I felt my energy returning, monster food always had that effect, healing your wounds and restoring a bit of your energy and magic. Eventually, I finished eating the burger and almost immediately drank up the water. I made my way to bed, covering myself with the sheets. 

A lot happened today, it was stressful, almost got killed maybe, and was mostly alone, but it isn’t so bad. I got a job, made some friends, found a place to sleep, it got had been worse. Thinking of many different things, my mind went back to Toriel. Is she doing alright, is she still asleep, is she also thinking off me? I should call her tomorrow, not sure if she’ll pick up. I turned off the lamp, closing my eyes. After a few minutes, I could feel myself passing out any second, I didn’t feel like moving, didn't feel like thinking, all I wanted was to stay like this, that was until sleep finally overtook me.


	4. Making a living

Waking up in a room I wasn’t familiar with had always been a strange feeling, even when I was living with Toriel, it still felt unusual. Not wanting to linger further in these thoughts, I groggily got up from bed, limping my way towards the only window in the room.

Peeking through the curtains, I saw several monsters making their way to their jobs, I think. Some were standing around, conversating amongst themselves. Children were playing with other children, others were busy fighting each other. The nearby adults didn’t even bat an eye, with fights being a usual occurrence to them. 

Retreating from the window, I turned on the lamp, adding more light to this dimly lit room. Opening my inventory, I pulled out my phone, checking the time. It was 9:04 AM. Having nothing to do this early in the morning, I went to the bathroom, taking a shower and cleaning myself up. Using the towel that came with the bathroom, I dried myself off, wrapping it around my body. 

Wondering if my clothes had dried up, I took a look at them, inspecting each piece. Fortunately, every piece had been dried up, and not wanting to stay half-naked, I quickly put them on. Making my hair look more presentable, I went back to my room, slumping back onto my bed. 

Wanting to know how Toriel’s been holding up after I had left, I tried calling her, but she didn’t pick up. I tried again for several minutes but she never picked up. “She’s probably checking if another human had fallen down, ” I muse. “might as well go check on Riley.” 

I left my room, locking the door behind me. Making my way downstairs, I saw Riley cleaning the counter top, she instantly stopped when she saw me coming down. “Slept well?” Riley asked. “After what I’ve been through yesterday, sleeping in a comfy bed was what I needed.” I said. “What happened to you yesterday?” Riley inquired, her head tilting slightly. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to explain the events of yesterday without revealing what I really was. Changing the topic was the only available option I had.

“It’s a *really* long story that requires a lot of explaining.” I said, making it clear I didn’t want to talk about it. “That’s fine.” Nora responded. Turning my attention elsewhere, I noticed a lack of people in the building. I didn’t hear anyone in the other rooms. Could it be I was currently the only one staying here. “Is it usually this quiet, or…?” I asked. “Thing is, you’re the only one staying here.” Nora explained, her body deflating slightly. “Why’s that?” I asked, slightly interested. “The only time somebody comes here is when they get too drunk at Grillby’s place and don’t want to endanger themselves by walking alone late at night, so they stay here for the night.” 

“I see.” I said, Riley briefly stopping to make sure I wasn’t losing her. “And on rare occasions, they’ll overpay me and I’ll just stay quiet about,” Nora said, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, laughing to herself. A small smile was growing on my face, joining in on Riley’s laughter. After we had composed ourselves, Riley continued talking. “I would’ve felt guilty about doing something like that if only they didn’t deserve it.” Riley exclaimed, the look on her face had turned mischievous. 

“I wouldn’t have expected you to be such a naughty woman.” I playfully said. “It’s one way to survive down here.” Riley said. “That reminds me.” I said, using this good mood to my advantage. “Hm?” Riley hummed. “About what we discussed yesterday…” I said. “Oh, yes, about the job, correct?” I nodded. “I gave it some thought last night, and I’ve decided to employ you.” Riley enthusiastically said.

“Really?!” I said, surprised. Feeling thrilled, I gently placed both my hands on Riley’s shoulders, causing her to jolt. Retracting my hands, I apologized. “Now I know you’re happy and all, but I have to remind you the pay isn’t great.” Nora said. “As long as I’m getting payed, I don’t care.” I responded. 

“Thank you, Riley,” I started. “this really means a lot to me.” Now I didn’t have to rely on others anymore, and I’ll be able to repay my debt. “I’m the one who has to thank you instead.” Riley said, her eyes full of gratitude. I never understood why people become so awkward when showing them my gratitude, until I was on the receiving end. It felt strange… yet nice. 

“Honestly, cleaning this entire building, running errands, dealing with rude guests, having to restock on food supplies, is far too much work for a single lady.” Riley whined. “And what kind of work will I be doing?” I asked, snapping Riley out of her whining. “Oh, don’t worry, I won’t have you do any of the more difficult tasks.” Riley said, reassuring me I wouldn’t be doing anything difficult.

I wanted to retort, I wanted to pull my weight, I wanted to show her I could handle big problems… but she said I wasn’t going to do any of that. There wasn’t any room for arguments to be found. What was I going to do, go against my boss on my first day? Feeling defeated, I agreed.   
“So when am I going to start?” I asked. “Oh, I’m mostly going to be taking care of things, except the cleaning upstairs. You can do that on your own time, seeing as no one is going to come in at this time of the day, unless someone made reservations.” Riley said, giving me a clear explanation. I didn’t have to start working now, but it’s not like I had anything else to do. 

“Oh, goodness, I almost forgot to mention something else to you,” Riley said “as you know, there are 5 rooms upstairs, 4 of them available to the guests.” The look I gave Riley could only had been described as “pure confusion”. “Why would you make 5 rooms and only have 4 of them be available? Do one of them happen to be a storage room or something?” was my thought process. 

“Why are only 4 out the 5 rooms available?” I finally asked, patiently awaiting for Riley answer. “That’s cause one of the rooms are reserved for employees, you see. If someone works for me, I’d make a room for them to stay in, free of course. It’s my way of saying thank you.” Riley said. 

“Wait, there’s still something I don’t get…” I said. “If everything you just said was true, and you were going to hire me, then why didn’t you stop Sans from paying you?” Riley started nervously laughing, her hands were slightly shaking. “Well, Sans doesn’t know how I run things and what kind of business woman would refuse money? But if he found out I basically robbed him, he’d most likely pay me a ‘visit’.” Riley murmured, shivering at the thought of Sans paying her a “visit”. “So if you could keep this between us gals, I’d very much appreciate it.” Riley pleaded, her body shivering so badly to the point where I was about to grab her. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell him.” I said, giving Riley a reassuring smile. I gave Riley some time to become… more “stable”.

Could Sans really have been that terrifying? He does run this town, and I don’t think that Sans and Papyrus were polite in doing so. Terror can contribute to how much you can influence people, and being able to influence people leads to some sort of forced gang creation, and that then leads to taking over others.  
Taking over another’s territory was also a way of living down here. If you were certain you and your gang were tough enough, you’ll try to take over somebody else’s territory. If you were successful, you’d gain control of that territory, all the money and the previous gang members who begged for mercy. If you’d failed, you were likely made into an example for those who would appose the Big Shots. And Sans and Papyrus were definitely the Big Shots running this town.

But weren’t people suppose to be afraid of the big shots running their town? What I’ve seen from Nora and Riley’s behavior towards Sans, it hadn’t been fear or resentment, but instead friendly chattering. Of course, they could be pretending, not wanting to cause unwanted trouble for themselves. But the way they communicated with Sans had been so genuine to be mere pretend. I might be looking too much into it, so I’ll just drop it for now. 

“Sorry about that,” Riley apologized. “you’d understand how terrifying those skeleton brothers could be if you had been around when Sans and Papyrus were fighting for control over Snowdin. A lot of civilians got between them and the gangs trying to protect their territory, and only a handful made it out.” Riley said through gritted teeth, both her hands clenched, but after a few moments she returned back to her cheerful self.  
“But it’s not like things hadn’t gotten any better. Thanks to them, this town is protected from other gangs, and monsters here don’t kill anymore.” Riley enthusiastically exclaimed. “And most monsters like them, mostly Sans, some keep their distance from Papyrus, though. If he was walking your way, you’d just walk out of his way or just get out of his way intirely. But that’s not to say they don’t have enemies here, cause they do.”

I was very intrigued to hear more about Sans and Papyrus but I’d prefer to ask them myself rather than having someone else tell me, then I’ll have something to talk about when our paths cross again, which will be soon. 

“Hey, speaking of them,” I said. “where are they’re now?” “Their probably on patrol,” Riley said. “they’ll be back around early evening or sooner than that, depending on if they teleport or not.” “They both can teleport?” I questioned. “I know Sans can, but I don’t know about Papyrus. He likes to keep things hidden, that’s what Sans told us.” “Can other monsters teleport?” I asked, wanting to learn even more about monsters and the magic and abilities they can use. “No, it’s just one of Sans’s unique abilities, maybe Papyrus can also do it, them being brothers and everything.” Riley replied, scratching the side of her head. “That’s fine, everything you’ve told me was very helpful.” I said. “Glad to help.” Riley responded, looking over her shoulders, remembering the counter she still has to clean. 

“With that settled,” Riley started. “I’ll be heading back to my cleaning duties.” Riley turned, moving back to behind the counter, returning to cleaning it. “I’ll be leaving the cleaning supplies here for you.” My answer to Riley was a thumbs up. 

With that finished up, I left the Inn, the cold grasping me just as before, but with less intensity. The nearby monsters were eyeing me, stopping whatever they were doing before. With more and more monsters' attention turning over to me, I could hear soft whispers forming amongst them. The longer I stood out in the open, the more likely my identity would be discovered. I decided heading to Nora’s shop would be far better than being the center of their attention. Even when I left, their gaze never left me, curious eyes following me like some sort of predator. 

I managed to arrive at Nora’s shop without any incidents. Wanting to make sure I wasn’t followed, I peeked through the windows. Everyone had gone back to doing what they were before I showed up. Turning back to the shop itself, I had been too busy to notice the few monsters that were inside. Like what happened a few moments ago, I had become the center of their attention, but unlike what happened outside, they didn’t converse with each other, instead staying silent, gazing at me for only a few short moments before turning their heads. 

Nora was up at the counter. She had noticed me coming in, but had her hands full with some customers. I didn’t want to disturb Nora, so I decided to wait until she's done. Some time passed, and the only ones remaining were Nora and myself. Everyone who had left glanced back at me right before exiting, I made it look like I was too busy to even notice them staring. 

Sighing heavily, Nora rested both her arms on the counter. “Enjoy the attention you were getting?” Nora asked, her tone filled with sarcasm. “You should’ve seen what happened outside.” I responded, the thought of being stared at with those curious eyes again made me shiver. 

“Not surprised, should’ve warned you that might happen.” Nora said. I raised my brow, her words catching my curiosity. “What do you mean?” I asked. “Can you blame them for staring at you? Someone as eye catching as you would have that effect on them.” I could understand what she meant by "eye catching". I did look vastly different from the monsters. I am human, after all. I had enough confidence to call myself “different” looking, but I didn’t think I’d be considered as “eye catching”. Now I didn’t consider it as a bad thing, but if I were “eye catching”, then I’d gain even more unwanted attention. Why is it when things start going my way life decides to throw more obstacles my way?! 

“You’d better not stay out too long, monsters would do anything to get some answers out of you for your out of place looks.” Nora warned. “Word might spread to other areas about you, if you stay outside too long.” I sighed, growing irritated with all these future problems being added to my current ones. 

“I’ll see what I can do about it.” I said. “By the way, congrats on getting the job.” Nora said, changing the unpleasant conversation we had moments ago. “How’d you know about that?” I questioned. “Riley told me about it when I called her last night.” Nora responded. “I’m pretty excited about it!” I squealed. “I no longer have to depend on others, financially speaking.” “That so?” Nora asked. “Yup.” I replied. 

“So, you came to visit or buy something this time?” Nora asked. “Sorry, I didn’t really have anything to do, so I came here.” I replied. “I won’t be staying long, got something to do later anyway.” “That’s a shame, I was hoping we could chat a bit more this time.” Nora said. “Me too.” I replied. “But we’ll find the time for all that eventually.”

Several minutes had passed, Nora and me chattering with each other, eventually I decided it was time to leave, but before I left Nora had called out my name.   
“You sure you don’t want to buy a coat or something? It gets unbelievably cold later the day?” Nora asked, sounding concerned. “If I could buy one I would’ve bought it by now.” I responded. “But no worries, I’ll be able to buy one soon.” Was the last thing I said before existing. 

I had unintentionally attracted the attention of nearby monsters earlier, so this time, I quickly left before anybody got to eye me. Returning back to the inn, with nothing to do, I wanted to start cleaning up the rooms upstairs. Riley gave me a brown apron that was a little bit too small for me, but I didn’t complain. She handed me the cleaning supplies. I then went upstairs, cleaning the different rooms. There hadn’t been much to clean, the bedrooms were just slightly messy, plus the bathrooms didn’t need to be cleaned, but I wanted keep myself busy for as long as possible, so I decided to properly clean each room, them being only slightly better looking than before after I was done with them. In total, it took me around 3 hours to finish up. Riley congratulated me on my good work, after which she gave me my pay, 25G. At first I told her it was a tad too much, but she told me that it was considered a small amount of G in Snowdin. After that, I went back upstairs, my room the only one I didn’t clean, since there was no need for it. I went over to my bed as I let my body fall onto it. Taking out my phone, I checked the time. 2:32 PM.

I tried calling Toriel again, but she didn’t pick up. I tried again and again, but the end result didn’t change. I gave up on calling on Toriel for the time being, and decided to peek through the window again. There were fewer adults outside, but the amount of children outside had gone up. From what I could see, there had to have been at least 11 or 13 kids. Some playing, some fighting, some watching. That’s all they did. One of the fighting children was an armless boy, he was losing his fight pretty badly. Each time he was knocked down onto the cold surface of the ground, he would force himself up again. This went on till the armless boy finally decided that retreating was the best logical option for him. Even though he basically lost, I admire his… determination. 

I didn’t want to feel like a creep for staring at children all day, so I decided to go downstairs. Making my way downstairs, I wanted to know if Riley needed help with anything, but instead I found her putting on a dark red coat. “Going somewhere?” I asked. “Oh, I’m just going to do a little bit of business with a… ‘friend’ of mine.” Riley answered, her voice filled with displeasure. “Want me to come with?” I asked. “I should get used to this area anyway, seeing as I still don’t know my way around here.” “That would be nice actually. Okay, I guess you coming with couldn’t hurt.” Riley said. “But before we go, I need to tell you this first.” “Tell me what exactly?” I questioned. “When we meet up with my business partner, if he tries to offer you anything, refuse it.” Riley said, her face growing serious. “Okay, I’ll remember that.” I responded. Riley returned to her joyful usual self, but she also appeared to be a bit on edge, as if she didn’t really want to meet up with this person. 

We both left the Inn, not before Riley locked the door. We were walking rather slowly, almost as if Riley wanted to completely stop and turn around. What could possibly be so bad about this “business partner”? We passed several houses on our way, the monsters we passed gave me curious looks, which is pretty much the norm now. Finally making it to our destination, we stood in front of a good looking bar. “Grillby’s” the neon purple sign read. “Why would Riley be doing business with a bar owner?” I thought.   
Riley was hesitant when she started to turn the knob. I didn’t know if we were going to meet someone dangerous or just plain bad, but that didn’t stop me from following inside.

Old classic music was reiterating from the corner of the bar from what seemed to be a jukebox. A quick whiff of the air inside delivered a quick and sharp scent of alcohol and cigarette smoke up into my nostrils. I wanted to cough a bit, but tried my best to hold it in, not wanting to attract even more attention. As we slowly walked a bit further into the bar, I glanced around some more. There’s a pool table surrounded by big, burly monsters. Whatever they were using as pool balls were definitely not the ordinary kind…  
Another quick glance gave me an idea of what kind of monsters hang out around here. I saw a good assortment of them, some being small and scrawny, some being large and intimidating. Hell, some were even a tad bit tipsy.

The lighting in the bar gave off a dusky glow, the perfect kind for a place like this. There also seemed to be some kind of stage for entertainment purposes. As we walked towards the main bar table, a few waitresses passed us, most of them, if not all, carrying drinks and wearing skimpy but formal clothing.  
Not wanting them to address me, I sped up by a small amount, yet Riley still seemed hesitant. I turned my head to look at her in order to study her face. She seemed… uneasy. It’s the best way to describe the face she had, even if I didn’t know what she was actually feeling. And was that a sweat droplet? I couldn’t tell, but I was starting to get a bit nervous, too.

We sat down on bar stools at the main bar table at last. At this point, I couldn’t stand it anymore.  
“Hey, who the heck is this guy you’re meeting anyway? It looks like he puts you on edge even while he’s not around…” I asked, hoping for a proper answer. “Ugh… I… he…” Riley struggled to say, scratching the back of her head.

I noticed her head jolting up towards the bar. I looked the same way to see a man ablaze in a dark purple flame wearing formal barman clothing, cleaning a glass with a nasty smile on his face. He had his attention on us. “So, what can I getcha?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, I made this chapter longer than the previous one. Something I had forgotten to mention is that I'm not the only person who's working on this story. That person also plays a big role in the editing and creation of the story.
> 
> Again, we would love to hear your thoughts on this fanfic whether it's negative or positive.


	5. A pleasant check-up?

“Grillby, we’re not here to eat or drink or anything,” Riley started. “I’m here to talk business, okay? So can we just-“

I suddenly interrupted Riley. “Um, actually, I am pretty hungry…” I said, not wanting to sound rude for cutting her off. “Heh, I see…” Grillby said. “Alright, how about this, I’ll get ya somethin’ to eat…”

“Really?!” I said, jumping up from the bar stool, excited by the thought of some food filling me up. “Aaa, I wasn’t dooone…” Grillby said, swaying his finger in the air. “Huh?” I said, sitting back down, my expression changing for the worse. “If you wanna get some grub from me for free, you’re gonna have to do somethin’ for me in return…” he said. “Oh…” I said. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense… what do you need?”

“Hmph,” Grillby said, putting the glass down and moving closer, the smile never leaving his face. He placed his hand upon my shoulder and turned me to face the bar. He then pointed to something. “You see that guy? Over there in the corner?” he asks.

I looked in the direction he was pointing. I saw a shady guy sitting by his lonesome, minding his own business. “Yeah…?” I slowly said. “Yeah, I fuckin’ hate ‘em.” Grillby said. I turned to him with a degree of caution on my face. He smugly smiled back at me. “Ah, hahahah! Heheheh, I’m just kidding!” he laughs it off. “Eh, he just owes me some money. Name’s Rufus. Go talk to ‘em.” He said, gently shoving me and turning to Riley.

I stared at this monster named Rufus for a few seconds, thinking if I should actaully confront him. I slowly walked towards him, getting more and more nervous. Is this what Riley felt like approaching Grillby? Not pondering that thought for long, I turned around to look back at Riley. She and Grillby were talking, I’d guess about business stuff. Riley then gives me a quick look, a look of concern, before returning back to Grillby’s talk. I gulped, being uncertain if what I’m doing is worth it. My stomach speaks otherwise, so I continue onward.

As soon as I got within a three meter range, he jolted his eyes up to look at me. I stopped dead in my tracks. I could feel the sweat forming on my forehead. Slowly and cautiously, I went up to him.

“E-Excuse me…” I said. “Hng?” Rufus grunted, lifting his head. “I-I just… just wanted to ask… um…” I tried to say, failing out of hesitance. “Did… do you owe Grillby any money?” “What? That’s none of your business!” he said, getting aggravated. “Actually, it’s ALL of her business…” I heard Grillby say from behind the main bar table, glaring at Rufus.

Rufus seemed a bit put off by this. He grunted again and looked the other way. He then searched his pockets, and pulled out some G. “Take it…” he said, extending his hand. I took it from him, still acting cautiously. I looked over to Grillby, who now had a more friendly smile on his face directed towards me. I smiled back.

Feeling more confident, I briskly started to walk back to Grillby and Riley, but was suddenly interrupted… Three monsters, all three times the size of me, stood in front of me. “And you are?” one asked in a deep, rough voice.  
“Uh… I-I…” I said, slightly backing up. “What’s a cute little thing like you doin’ around here?” another asked, giving me a nasty smile. “Wh-what? I-…” I tried to speak, stopping after noticing more monsters gathering around me.

Soon enough, I was surrounded. I stepped left and right, trying to avoid their needy, wasted hands. They started to close in on me. I was helpless.  
“HEY!” I heard someone yell. The monsters backed away from me, giving me a clear view of Grillby. “Get ya damn hands off of her, before I spark a bonfire in all your asses!” he yelled, his purple flames noticibly more violent than before. The monsters all returned to their seats. I stare at Grillby.

“Pieces a’ shit…” I hear him murmur, returning to cleaning another glass.

I continued to stare at him for a few seconds before checking around, making sure that nobody else was around me. After checking, I walked back to Grillby and Riley. “Yeah, sorry about that, lassie.” Grillby said. “They just haven’t seen anybody of your… type… around here.” He says, looking me up and down. Now all of a sudden I felt uncomfortable around Grillby, but that only lasted a moment. “Anywho… uh… Frisk, was it?” he said peeling his eyes. “Y-Yeah? How did you know my-“ I was about to ask, before getting interrupted by Grillby. “Riley told me, anyway, here, take this.” He said, giving me a bag with what smells like delicious food in it. “Eat that at home, no need for others to catch wind of what’s goin’ on here. Now, me and Riley’ve been talkin’ about some business stuff, and regarding that business stuff, what do you say about workin’ for me?” he then asked. “What?! We never discu-“ Riley started, before also getting interrupted by Grillby. “Ah tutututut, whatta’ya say?” he asked. “Um, I’m alright, I’m already working for Riley anyway…” I politely declined. “Yeah, I heard, nice pay? ‘Cause I can do beeetteeer…” Grillby said, shaking his head and smiling. “Okay, Grillby, that’s enough. C’mon, Frisk, let’s go.” Riley said, getting up. Without saying another word, I got up with her and we both headed for the doorway. “See ya ‘round!” I heard Grillby say as we left the bar.

Heading back home, I looked at Riley, she looked back. “Y’know,” she started, “it wasn’t exactly a smart move, taking up an offer from Grillby like that.” I looked down to the ground. “Sorry…” I said softly. “Eh, it’s okay.” Riley said, putting her hand on my shoulder. I looked back at her. “We all do dumb stuff every now and then, whether we meant to or not.” She said, smiling at me. I smiled back.

We arrived back at the Inn. It looked and felt a lot more desolate than usual, with nobody being around and all. Riley almost immediately went back to working, while I stood there for a second, thinking about what to do next. The day was still quite young, and I wasn’t tired at all…

“Hey,” Riley said. “If you’re looking for something to do, how about you help me out with the customers?” “Oh, um, you think I should? I don’t exactly know how to handle all the different types of monsters around here…” I said, unsure of my answer. “Eh, you’ll be fine. They aren’t all that different and all that hard to deal with. Besides, I’ll be right there the entire time.” She said, trying to reassure me. “Oh… okay, yeah, then I guess I can give it a shot.” I said. Riley smiled at me and motioned her hand, telling me to come over. I went to stand next to her.

Many hours had passed as I helped Riley with the customers. Some were surprisingly polite, others… not so much… One even tried to walk away without paying. Riley quickly and semi-aggressively put a stop to that pretty quickly. “Alright, I think you’ve done enough for tonight, go on up to your bed.” Riley says, patting my head. “Okay…” I say sleepily. I walk up to my room and go to sit down on my bed. “I’ll just shower tomorrow…” I think to myself, as I undress and get ready for bed.  
I practically fall into bed and snuggle myself into the covers. I soon fall asleep…

The next day, I woke up, still quite a bit tired. I stayed in bed for a little while longer before finally deciding to check the time. 10:08 AM. I guess it was time to get up… I lazily got out of bed, my vision still a bit hazy. I remembered that I told myself I’d shower in the morning, and so I did. After drying myself off, putting on my clothes and getting ready for the day, I went downstairs.

Descending downstairs, I stumbled upon Riley chattering with an old friend of hers, Sans. Now that think about, I hadn’t seen him or his more noticeable brother all day yesterday. I’m not making it sound like a good thing… I’m just a bit curious where they’ve been. 

“Morning.” Sans and Riley said in unison. I gave them both a friendly wave as a response. “You’ve been keeping me waiting.” Sans said, that lazy smile painted on his face never changing. I looked over at Riley for an explanation, she shrugged. “Apparently, he wants you to go with him somewhere.” Riley said. It sounded like Sans hadn’t told Riley where he wanted to go.

Sans hadn’t shown himself for a day and he wanted me to go somewhere with him. I took a nervous step back, the smile I had was faltering. Sans noticed the change in both my body language and facial expression before he spoke. “Don’t worry, Frisky.” Sans reassured. Wait, did he just call me “Frisky”? 

“I won’t be taking you anywhere… dangerous, but you should know that I can’t take no for an answer.” Sans said. I didn’t like where this was heading, but I’m almost certain Sans doesn’t mean well. I probably would have gone with Sans if he hadn’t said that. Going with him, I guess.

Holding back a nervous gulp, I hesitantly moved over towards Sans. I placed my slightly sweaty hand on Sans’s shoulder, imitating what Papyrus had done before they had left. Red smoke pouring out of Sans’s body, engulfing both him and myself. 

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move either. Red smoke surrounded me. I desperately looked around for anything, not as if there was anything to look at. I couldn’t even see Sans, but I knew I was still holding onto his shoulder. The only thing that was in this… red void of smoke was a screeching, howling wind. No, it sounded more like distorted screaming. Something else was here… and it wasn’t alone. There was more of… it. I could hear the beat of my heart in my ears, it felt… unsettling… unnerving… unnatural… it felt so… strange… I wasn’t sure of how to describe it. I tried calling out to Sans, but… nothing. Nothing came out. Had I been so terrified that I lost my ability to speak? No, that couldn’t have been it. Maybe it had something to do with the rules of this never-ending void…  
I wanted out, I couldn’t take this anymore, I felt like screaming… screaming as loud as I could… but to no avail.

Suddenly, a bright flash of crimson striked my eyes as I fell to my knees. They were met with a soft carpet, resembling the shade of red I had witnessed during that horrible sequence… Either that or my eyes hadn’t fully recovered yet… I wasn’t even relieved to be let out, I was still in quite a bit of shock. A weird sensation creeped all up and down my body. My legs were completely limp, I couldn’t even get up. I bent over, placing my hands on the carpet, giving myself a quick reality check. I then looked up and took in my surroundings. 

The room was filled with all sorts of knick-knacks, a gigantic flat-screen TV playing a show I was unfamiliar with and several portraits hanging on the walls, some of them had Sans painted on them and the others were of Papyrus… except for one.

A monster I didn’t recognise was standing in between Sans and Papyrus. Sans and Papyrus were two of the tallest monsters I’ve ever seen, and they both easily towered over most of the other monsters, but this one made Sans look like nothing but a little boy, while Papyrus could barely reach his chest. He had to bend forward just to fit in the frame. 

Like Sans, he too had a smile creaking across his face, but unlike Sans’, his smile was crooked and… devilish. Like Papyrus, he as well had injuries on his skull, but they weren’t scars like Papyrus’, they were cracks. His eye color wasn’t red like Sans’ or Papyrus’, instead, it had been a dark purple-ish color. He wasn’t wearing the underground’s iconic color scheme, in turn his attire had been a reflection of his eye color.

He wore a large coat, covering his torso, besides a portion of his chest. I was surprised they had made one in his size… or had it been specially made for him? A small part of his cracked skull had been hid away by a fedora. Shockingly, it fits him quite well. It made him look more mysterious, shady, and whether he intentionally or unintentionally meant to do it, he also made himself look more… intriguing. 

These portraits helped me come to the conclusion that I was currently in Sans’ household. They also had an upstairs, although I could only make out about 4 rooms. Behind me was most likely the front door. There had also been another door built into the stairwell, an entrance to a basement, maybe?   
This whole room made it clear to me just how wealthy and powerful Sans and Papyrus were. I couldn’t understand why, but I had a feeling that that scarecrow of a skeleton dwarfed both the other two with his power alone.

“Don’t worry,” I heard Sans say. I snapped my head up to look up at him. “you get used to it.” He made it sound like there’d be a next time. Sans helped me back up onto my feet, even though both my legs were wobbling a bit. I could hear faint metallic noises coming from another room… the kitchen, I thought.  
“Mind telling me why you brought me here?” I asked. “You see,” Sans began. “my bro wanted to know how Snowdin’s been treating you, and so he told me to bring you here.” A fear I was unfortunately all too familiar with had resurfaced inside my chest again. But unlike last time, I was able to sooth it out.

There was no point in holding onto that fear anyway, it wouldn’t have brought me any solace, I couldn’t always be the helpless girl who needed saving. I wanted to be brave, someone who wasn’t scared by their next obstacle. So, I would confront Papyrus, and maybe reach some sort of peaceful resolution, and even if things got violent, Sans would intervene… right?  
As if on cue, footsteps could be heard from the other room, growing louder and louder before stopping completely. “GREETINGS, HUMAN.” The taller skeleton spoke, with that huge smug expression on his face.

I thought I had readied myself for what was coming, but I had been oh so wrong. What had me surprised wasn’t seeing Papyrus again, and it wasn’t that cute white apron he had on him either, which was, by the way, clearly way too small for him. No, the thing that had me surprised the most was how soft he was talking. Granted, he was still loud, but this time he wasn’t screaming like a loud maniac. This proved to be a relief, I didn’t feel like being yelled at first thing in the morning.

My attention went back the apron Papyrus was wearing. It looked ridiculous on him, and I had to fight the urge to break out laughing. Laughing at him would surely set him off, and I didn’t want to be the cause of an outburst. 

But Sans had thought differently, he was laughing hysterically with tears coming out of those empty sockets of his. I glanced back at Papyrus, he was not very amused. He glared at Sans, trying to look intimidating, but Sans had been too busy wheezing to notice. It probably would have worked if he took the thing off. 

I decided staying quiet would be a lot safer for me. Besides, it was working so far. Papyrus looked like he was about ready to give Sans a new hole to cry out of, letting out grumbles every few seconds. “You still hadn’t taken the damn thing off!” is what I could make out from Sans speaking through his laughter. Papyrus became even more irritated, his eyes glowing a deep and violent topaz.

“HOW THOUGHTLESS, SANS! Papyrus scoffed, that loud personality of his momentarily returning. “ONE SHOULD ALWAYS LOOK THEIR BEST WHEN PREPARING A MEAL FOR THEIR GUEST.” Papyrus lectured. What’s this about a meal? “Yeah, their ‘best’, Papyrus…” Sans said. “Right now you’re practically mocking yourself.”

“HMPH! FORGET ABOUT HIM, HUMAN.” Papyrus grumbled, turning around. “FOLLOW ME INTO THE KITCHEN.” I wasn’t sure what to do, so I did the only thing I could do… smile. It didn’t help that the smile I was putting on was sort of strained. Closely following Papyrus and Sans, the only thing that had came out of my opened mouth was “wow”.

The kitchen was literally sparkling, I could even see my own reflection coming off of the floor tiles. Somebody had really put their blood and sweat into cleaning this place. Papyrus went over to a pot that had steam coming out of it. Sans was leaning against the wall behind me. 

“YOU MAY GO SIT, HUMAN.” Papyrus said, gesturing his hand towards the table. I did as instructed. Papyrus went over to one of the cabinets, taking out a large bowl. Papyrus then proceeded to scoop out whatever was inside the pot into the bowl. He then took out a fork from the drawer next to him. He came walking over to me, his face full of confidence. “HELP YOURSELF, HUMAN.” Papyrus said, placing both the fork and bowl in front of me. He then sat at the chair across from me. His eyes were narrow, watching me, curiously.

I had a bowl filled with spaghetti setting in front of me. It didn't look anything special, but maybe the taste would defer from ours? Taking the fork that was given to me, in tangling it with the spaghetti, I brought it closer to my mouth, not before blowing on it a few times. I glanced back at Papyrus, he was quiet, and the stare he gave me made my hand start shaking a bit. Sans' expression had been more relaxed than Papyrus', but was examining me with the same amplitude of intensity. 

I nervously shoved the spaghetti in my mouth, the taste was... well... not what I had expected. It didn't taste bad, it was more on the sweet side, ok it was way too sugary. Did he use the entire sugar bag or something? That spaghetti made me lose my appetite I didn't even have.

"HOW WAS IT, HUMAN?" Papyrus asked, that smug grin overtook that serious expression he had moments ago. Telling him his food tasted bad would definitely get me killed, and he had gone out of his way to make this for me, so it felt a little rude to say something bad about his kind gesture.

"I... it tasted... unique?" I said. It was clear I didn't like it, but luckily Papyrus didn't notice, overjoyed that he thought I relished it. "YOU SEE, SANS?" Papyrus started. "MY COOKING HAS IMPROVED AND THE HUMAN LOVED IT. EVEN GOING AS FAR TO CALLING IT "UNIQUE". I KNEW ADDING SUGAR WOULD DO THE TRICK." "Yeah... I guess adding sugar was better than throwing in a whole bag of salt." Sans said. 

He did what? What Papyrus made for me could barely be classified as "edible". And he used a whole bag of salt the previous time. I felt bad for that poor soul who had to consume that. I swear Papyrus' cooking could be used as a torture method down here. 

"AHEM!" Papyrus loudly coughed, snapping me back to reality. "NOW, HUMAN. I'M ABOUT TO ASK YOU A VERY SERIOUS QUESTION, AND I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU TOOK THIS VERY SERIOUSLY." I couldn't tell if that was a request or a threat, but that serious, intimating, closed jaw expression he unintentionally gave me, made me believe that it had been a threat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder what that "serious" question will be.


	6. Sans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The POV of this chapter has changed from our main character Frisky to the mustard loving Sans the skeleton.
> 
> This may be temporary as I wanted to try something new. The next chapter will most likely return to Frisk's POV.

Papyrus always had a problem with his anger, and saying the wrong thing could easily set him off. And our little Frisky had better choose her words carefully, otherwise she’d be leaving with more than just a few bruises and broken bones. Not like I would let Papyrus touch that enchanting smile of hers. But thankfully, the odds of that ever happening are slim to none, and if something were to happen to her, not only will I get my ass handed by “him”, Toriel would go ballistic if she knew her precious “child” was harmed under my care. 

I’ve seen plenty of humans come and go, some were taken to Asgore, some were captured or killed, and then there were the unfortunate ones who were taken by that damn spider. I’ll admit, at times, I can be a brute, but you could say I’m a lot more merciful than Muffet. Next time I see that eight-eyed whore, I’ll end her in the most horrific way possible, I’ll make it last, too.

Mettaton, I never liked that egotistical asshole, thinks he’s better than everyone else, treats everybody like shit. I don’t have the slightest idea what he’d do if Frisk was hold captive by that ass bag. Screw you Alphys for creating that thing, you better have a remote to shut him off for when I come for that horny tin can. 

Back to Frisk. What’s odd is she seems so… familiar… It’s almost as if I’ve seen her somewhere before, but where? There’ll be a time for all those questions. Right now, we have a job to do. Well, we would have a job to do if Papyrus wasn’t so eager to know how Frisk would compare his cooking with that of the humans. I already knew what she thought about his cooking just from reading her facial expression and it was clear as day just how nervously scared she was to answer Papyrus’ question. 

“HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE MY COOKING TO THOSE OF THE HUMANS, HUMAN?” Papyrus’ words still fresh in my mind. Barely edible. That’s probably what she wanted to say. Who could blame her, I sure can’t. Although, Papyrus has improved when it comes to cooking, so I guess there has been some improvement present in his dishes… even if it’s just a bit better. Nonetheless, it’s still not great, but if she did say anything bad about Papyrus’ cooking… he would probably let it slide… I hope.

Frisk opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to find the right words that’ll satisfy Papyrus. “There’s… there’s a lot of talented people who have spent years cooking all sorts of dishes their whole lives, Papyrus. And I believe your cooking could use more work.” Frisk said. Despite the distance between us, I could see sweat droplets forming on her forehead. Papyrus remained quiet. It’s hard, trying to read somebody’s expression when they don’t even have a face . “But isn’t that a good thing? What’s the point in trying to be good at something if there are no challenges… heheh… heh…” Frisk nervously giggled. That smile she was so desperately trying to keep up was starting to tremble.

Papyrus had been quiet, which was unexpected. The only other time he would be this quiet is if Asgore was present or if “he” was around. “FRISK, WAS IT?” Papyrus asked out of the blue. “Excuse me?” Frisk said. “YOUR NAME IS FRISK, CORRECT?” Frisk nodded, Papyrus exchanging glances between her and the bowl of spaghetti. “TELL ME, FRISK, ARE YOU ABLE TO COOK?” Frisk nodded again. Where was Papyrus going with this? “AND HOW GOOD ARE YOU?” Papyrus inquired. “I don’t consider myself too bad, I can make something decent at the very least.” “THEN IT’S SETTLED!” Papyrus yelled, standing up straight, finger in the air. Frisk jolted at this, the bowl almost tipping over. “IF I DREAM OF EVER IMPROVING, THEN IT’S ONLY LOGICAL THAT I ACQUIRE A TEACHER! FRISK THE HUMAN, YOU SHALL AID ME IN TONIGHT’S DINNER.”

Papyrus didn’t give Frisk the chance to even say anything, he just kept rambling on about various dishes he wanted to make with her. For the first time in a long while, I found myself looking forward to tonight’s dinner, mainly because Frisk would probably do all the cooking while Papyrus observed, but what kind of dish would she make? All this thinking was a bit draining, and nothing like a good drink would make it all better. Yes it was still early in the day to get a little wasted, but I didn’t care. Leaving those two by themselves, I left the comfortable wall I was leaning on, my next destination being the fridge. I couldn’t find my previous drink, and nothing in there would satisfy me more than the mustard served at Grillby’s bar. 

“Hey, Boss?” I spoke up. Papyrus looked irritated when he turned around, and I found it amusing. I had also unintentionally caught our little sweetheart’s attention, her curious eyes were solely focused on me. I was loving it. “WHAT IS IT, BROTHER? CAN’T YOU SEE? I’M HAVING AN IMPORTANT DISCUSSION WITH THE HUMAN!” Papyrus said with that raspy voice of his. “You got any idea what happened to my drink?” I asked. “UGH! YOU DRANK UP THAT DISTASTEFUL YELLOW SLUDGE OF YOURS WHEN YOU PASSED OUT LAST NIGHT, AND I WAS FORCED TO DRAG YOU BACK TO YOUR ROOM.” Papyrus grunted. “Looks like I’ll be heading off to Grillby’s then.” I said.

Maybe I'd get myself more mustard than usual this time, I don't exactly like going back there every single time I want some of that good yellow "sludge", as Papyrus calls it. I walked out and into the living room. "SANS, DON'T COME BACK LATE! AND DON'T PASS OUT, EITHER!" I heard Papyrus yell from the kitchen. "Yeah, yeah, yeah..." I said back, not exactly minding what he said. As I reached for the doorknob, I heard light footsteps behind me. I stopped reaching for the doorknob and turned my head around only to see Frisk standing behind me. "Hm? What is it?" I asked. "You're going to Grillby's, right?" she asked. "Uh, yeah?" I said, unsure why she would ask that. "Can I come too?" she asked. I tilted my head back a bit, not expecting that question from her. "You want to come with?" I started. "Why?" "Well, I don't think me being alone with Papyrus is the best idea, if you know what I mean..." she says, looking back at the kitchen. I chuckle understandingly. "Heh, yeah, I see what you mean... but are you sure you'll be alright over there?" I asked, fearing a bit for her safety. "I'll be fine, I've been there before anyway." she said. Taken aback even more, I stare at her. "Huh, alright... I guess you could come, then..." I said, not looking to question her about having already been there. I opened the door, heading outside, Frisk right behind me. I looked around, checking for any sketchy monsters nearby. With no real notable threats in sight, we continued on to Grillby's.

As we walked, I took a few glances around, checking out all the monsters. As usual, some were fighting, some were talking, some were... getting wasted... really, really wasted... like, seriously, that guy could fall over any second...

Trying my best to ignore them, and not laugh at them, we arrived at Grillby's, that neon purple sign never getting old to see. We walked in, Frisk getting a bit closer to me. She's been here before my boney ass...

We went to go sit on the bar stools, waiting for Grillby to show up. "Hey, Sans?" I heard Frisk say. I turned to her. "Hm?" I said. "Are we really just here to get your 'drink' and leave?" she asked. She just keeps on surprising me with these questions... why? "Uh, well, I guess we could do something while we're here..." I said. "Oh." she said, turning back to the bar table. I thought for a second about what to do, but nothing came to mind. Without having the oppertunity to think of something else, Grillby arrived from behind the table.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite walkin' talkin' rattlin' machine..." he said jokingly. "Hey, Grillbs." I said. He then turned his head to Frisk with a bit of a surprised expression. "Oh, and you brought Frisk along!" he said. "Wasn't expecting that one..." So she really has been here, huh? That's pretty surprising, you'd think someone like her would die instantly in a place like this... "So, what'll it be today?" Grillby said, returning his attention to me. "Eh, the usual..." I said, smiling at him. "...why do I even bother asking..." Grillby said, losing his usual expression and trading it in for squinted eyes and a droopy mouth as he turned his back on me. I wonder if he's getting sick of me just ordering mustard all the time... "Heheh, make it three this time..." I said, holding up three fingers. He quickly turned around, his eyes now a bit wider. "Jesus, really? Three? For what?" he asked out of surprise. "Eh, no real reason." I replied. "Didn't you pass out from that stuff yesterday?" he asked. "Yyyep, might relive that tonight..." I said. "Tch, that's like slamming your fingers in the door and saying 'Hey, let's try that crap again...'" he said, starting to clean out a glass. I give out a slight chuckle, Frisk lets out a slight giggle, too. "Eh, I'll go get 'em for ya." he said, heading to the back.

I then turned to Frisk as soon as she started to talk. "Jeez, what are you getting?" she asked. "Mustard." I simply said. She gave me a half emotionless, half confused face. Makes sense, anybody would get confused at passing out from drinking too much mustard.

I chuckled and turned back to the bar. Grillby arrived shortly afterwards with the three bottles of molten gold I probably have an addiction towards. "Here ya are, ya crazy bastard..." he said, handing me the bottles. "Thanks, Grillbs..." I said, stuffing them into my jacket. "Wait, aren't you gonna pay for that?" Frisk asked. "Nah, that ain't necessary. He's the only one who actually drinks that shit, anyway..." Grillby said. We sat in silence for a while, before Frisk suddenly snaps her head up.

"Oh, wait!" she said. "Grillby, I forgot to give you the G that one monster owed you..." What? What's she talking about? "Oh, right! Forgot about that... yeah, nah, keep it..." Grillby said. "Really?" she asked, her face lighting up a bit. "Yeah, it probably ain't much, anyway..." Grillby said. "Oh, thank you!" Frisk said happily. I just sat there... confused as all hell. "W-wait, what?" is all I could think of to say. "Oh, right, you don't know," Frisk started. "I did a favor for Grillby in exchange some free food a day ago or something." she said. "Seriously?" I asked, pretty surprised by this new information. "Yeah, my little devil over here did a pretty good job shakin' that guy down!" Grillby added. "W-what?! I didn't shake him down! I just... politely asked him for the G and left, that's all..." Frisk said back. "And don't call me your little devil!" she continued. "Sure, whatever you say, princess..." Grillby said, looking away and down the glass. "And don't call me that, either!" she said. Grillby chuckled, and I couldn't help but chuckle a bit too.

Switching the subject, I spoke up. "So, Grillbs, how's business been?" I asked. "Eh, same old same old..." he said back.

...well that died quickly, didn't it?

"Uh... anything... new... happen around here?" I asked, not knowing what to bring up. "Hm, well now that you mention it..." he said, leaning in a bit. "There was this guy, real mysterious, wearin' a full black cloak, talkin' some people up about somethin'..." "Huh?" I said. "Talkin' people up about what?" I asked out of curiousity. "Dunno, but I think I overheard him say somethin' about an 'organisation'..." he said. Now THIS is something I'd like to talk about... "An organisation, huh? Probably just another gang..." I said, trying to brush it off as nothing too serious. "I dunno, somethin' didn't feel right about that guy..." Grillby said. I could tell just by looking at Grillby that, for some odd reason, he was a bit uneasy talking about that little event... But then again... even I felt a tad uneasy thinking about this guy and his assumed "organisation", and I had no clue why...

"Hey, Sans?" I heard Frisk say. I turned to her, clearing my mind regarding this mystery person and unknown organisation. "How long are we still going to be here?" she asked. "Why do you ask? What, do you wanna leave?" I asked. "I got a text from Papyrus..." she said. "Oh yeah? Whats it say?" I asked. "Uh, 'HUMAN, TELL THAT LAZY BAG OF BONES TO GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT. I HAVE IMPORTANT MATTERS TO DISCUSS HIM.'" she says. "Ah, well then I guess we'd better get going. Wouldn't want to anger the boss, now would we?" I said. She nods as we both get up and turn for the door. "See ya 'round!" I heard Grillby say as I opened the door. I held my open hand up as a goodbye gesture as I headed out the door.

Me and Frisk started to walk back to the house. On our way over there, Frisk suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait, Sans!" she said. "Hm?" I said, turning to her. "I... I'm going back to the Inn for a little while, okay?" she said. "Huh? Why?" I asked. "I want to go tell Riley about the change of plans, y'know, making food there, eating there..." she said. "And staying there." I added. "Wait, what?" she asked. "Yeah, you'll be staying with us for a while." I said. "Oh... then I guess I'll have to tell her about that, too..." she said. "Alright, well, tell Papyrus I'll be back later." she said, walking the other way. "Will do." I say back.

With that done and dealt with, I headed back to the house and arrived on short notice.

I opened the door as quietly as I could, almost sneaking in, not to alert Papyrus of my arrival. I really didn't want him screaming in my face right now... Slowly and quietly, I walked into the house, and-  
"SANS!" I heard Papyrus yell. "Ah, shit..." I softly said to myself. "GET OVER HERE THIS INSTANT!" he yelled. "I'm comin', I'm comin'..." I said. I walked to the kitchen where Papyrus was standing, tapping his foot in impatience. "THERE YOU ARE! NOW, I WAS THINKING," he started. Here we go... "SINCE WE HAVE JOBS TO DO, WE WILL HIRE A BODYGUARD FOR THE HUMAN!" he said. "Oh, really?" I asked. "YES! AND I HAVE ALREADY FOUND AN APPROPRIATE CANDIDATE AS WELL!" he said, walking up to me. "YOU WILL CALL AND INFORM HIM ABOUT GUARDING THE HUMAN." "Gotcha, can do." I said, turning around to walk away. "HEY, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" he suddenly said. "Huh?" I said, turning back around. "AREN'T YOU GOING TO CALL HIM?" he said, motioning his hand over to the phone. "Wha-? Yeah, yeah, I'll do it eventually..." I said, trying my best to leave the conversation and the kitchen. "YOU WILL CALL HIM, NOW." he said, getting a bit more aggravated. "Ugh, fine, fine, fine..." I said, throwing my hands up and walking over to the phone.

There already seemed to be a number written on a sticky note attached to the phone. I dialed it, and somebody picked up. "Yes, hello?" I heard a voice say. "Yeah, uh, hey, are you up for bodyguard business?" I asked. "Hm, who's it for, boss?" the person asks. "Someone important, trust me, now are you up for the job or not?" I asked, getting slightly impatient. "Hmmm... yeah, I guess I am." the person said. "Good, I'll pay you after you show your worth." I said. "Sounds good to me, boss." the person said. "Alright then, meet me outside Grillby's in Snowdin tomorrow at around 11 AM." I said. "Got it." the person said. I hung up the phone, and headed to the living room where Papyrus seemed to be talking to Frisk. "HM? OH, YOU'RE DONE! HAS HE AGREED?" Papyrus asked. "Yep," I said. "he'll be here by tomorrow." "EXCELLENT!" Papyrus said. "I HAVE ALSO DECIDED ON WHAT WE'RE GOING TO MAKE FOR DINNER: SOUP!" he said with a hint of excitement. "Oh yeah? What kind of soup?" I asked.

"...FUCK!" he yelled. I let out a wheeze as I put my hand to my forehead. "Damnit, Papyrus..." I said in between wheezes. "SILENCE!" he yelled. "Oh yeah, Frisk went over to the Inn to tell Riley how things are gonna go down." I said, trying to stop laughing. "HM, I SEE. I'LL TALK TO HER WHEN SHE GETS BACK." he said. I nodded and headed back to the living room. With nothing to do, I decided to sit down and watch whatever's on TV.

I slouched there, watching TV for a really long time, not really paying attention whatsoever. The turning of the doorknob suddenly caught my attention as Frisk opened it. "Oh, you're back." I said. "Yeah, Riley's got a good idea of what's going on now." she said. "Ah, that's nice to hear..." I said. She came inside, and I got up shortly afterwards.

I walked into the kitchen with her, and as expected, Papyrus immediately started blabbering. "HUMAN, THERE YOU ARE!" he said. "COME, WE HAVE IMPORTANT MATTERS TO DISCUSS REGARDING DINNER!" he said. "SANS, YOU GO DO...WHATEVER..." he said.

"Well then, I guess I'll be on the couch, drowning in mustard." I said. "YES, YES, YOU DO THAT WHILE WE DECIDE ON WHAT TYPE OF SOUP WE'RE GOING TO MAKE FOR DINNER!" Papyrus said. I went to sit on the couch. I pulled out a bottle of musturd and started chugging.

After quite a while, I saw how much time had passed, and decided to get up... well, try to get up... I stumbled onto my feet, realising how bad of an idea it was to chug all that musturd...

I wobbled my way over to the kitchen. I went to lean against the doorway as I saw Frisk and Papyrus preparing the soup. Papyrus turned around to face me, wearing a chef's hat. "SANS, PERFECT TIMING! ARE YOU READY TO TRY OUR-..." he pauses. "...YOU'RE DRUNK, AREN'T YOU?" he asks, surprisingly softly. At that moment, I was so wasted on mustard, all I could think of to say was...

"Fuck off."

"...UGH..." he said, fingers pinched onto the area in between his eye sockets. "Wait, he can get drunk on mustard?" Frisk said, turning around. She was wearing an apron... a really... really... cute... a-... -pron... "I CONSIDER IT A TALENT..." Papyrus said.  
"...Oh das hot." I said, staring at Frisk with squinted eyes. Good god, this was a bad idea... "What?" Frisk asked. "SANS, JUST... SIT DOWN..." Papyrus said, irritated at this point.

I proceeded to follow his orders- son of a bitch, I really was drunk, wasn't I? As I was saying, I proceeded to follow his orders and sat down at the table, nearly faceplanting onto the wooden surface... and then I actually did.

I then heard something being placed on the table. I slowly looked up to see a big bowl of soup. "PREPARE TO BE AMAZED, SANS! BY OUR VEGETABLE SOUP!" Papyrus said proudly. He proceeded to pour some into a bowl that I didn't even realise was in front of me with a soup ladle. "EAT UP, SANS!" he said. "YOU TOO, FRISK!" Frisk sat down opposite me, getting poured some soup as well. I grab a nearby spoon, and- holy shit is it hard to eat soup while wasted. I (somehow) successfully got a spoonful into my mouth. "Wow... this is... surprisingly good..." I said. "You do know that I worked on it too, right?" Frisk said, raising an eyebrow at me. "Oh, uh, yeah, yeah, of course..." I said, trying to keep my head up. Soon, Papyrus came to sit down as well, and poured himself some soup too. We all sat there as we slowly finished our soup, me a bit slower than Frisk and Papyrus, because... well, yeah.

I do eventually finish as Papyrus grabs my bowl and puts it with the rest of the dirty dishes. "WELL, SANS? HOW WAS IT?" Papyrus asked. "10/10, would fuck again." ...Why... just... why... "...GO TO SLEEP, SANS." Papyrus said. "You got it, boss man..." I said, getting out of my chair... sorry, falling out of my chair... literally. I fell out of the chair, laying face down on the floor. Papyrus yanks me up by my arm. "I AM NOT HELPING YOU TO YOUR ROOM." he said, looking at me dead in the eye sockets. "I don't need yer fuckin' help anyway..." I said, pulling away. "UGH... COME, FRISK, I SHALL SHOW YOU TO YOUR ROOM." Papyrus said. He lead Frisk out of the kitchen. I followed shortly behind.

I entered the living room and saw Papyrus leading Frisk into "his" old room. Hope she likes it in there... I tried my best not to slip going up the stairs, and to my own surprise, I didn't. I shuffled to my room and went inside, making an A-line for my bed. I fell down onto it, not even covering myself. WAY too wasted and tired for that. I then proceeded to snore myself to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Smectic isn't the one who wrote this note. The person who wrote this note is actually his friend. He has mentioned me before, in a bit of a vague manner, but nonetheless, he has mentioned me. I'm just here to show you all how much I've actually worked on this fanfic along with him.
> 
> In actuality, I'm mainly his editor. I try my hardest to make his works virtually errorless, but occasionally, I continue writing instead of him. I wrote a fair portion of chapter 5 and the majority of this chapter, mainly from Grillby's and onwards (in all honesty, this chapter was a bit of a fustercluck -kudos to those who got that reference-, so I deeply apologize for any errors). I'm also the one to help Smectic forward whenever he's stuck, I even come up with my own ideas every now and then. I'm saying all of this so you can all see that I also play a big role in the creation and writing of the story.
> 
> As a matter of fact, I've also made a deal with him. You see, I'm a bit of a JoJo fan, and I told him that, if the readers would like, I could create my own account and write a JoJo fanfic of my own, filled with original Stands and characters (I hope)!
> 
> In the end, thank you all so much for taking your time to read our fanfic. Not only does Smectic have big plans for the future, but I do, too, with new original characters and much, much more! We hope you enjoy our fanfic so far, we will continue to improve!
> 
> FYI, I'll be answering the comments this time, not Smectic.
> 
> With love and determination,  
> -Smectic's friend


	7. Late night chit-chat

Papyrus lead me into the room. “THESE WILL BE YOUR QUARTERS, HUMAN.” Papyrus said, surprisingly loud for a time like 7:40 PM. “MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE.”

He turned to walk out, but suddenly stopped and turned his head to the side. “OH, AND… DON’T MIND THE CLUTTER AND PAPERS LAYING AROUND. IF I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN’T MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL, I HIGHLY DOUBT YOU WILL.” He said. He proceeded to take his leave.

I was left in this dimly lit room, a weak blue lamp by a desk being the only given light source. I got a bit closer to it so I could at least see what all these papers scattered around the desk are. I took a close look at one, bringing it a bit closer to the lamp. From what I could tell, it was some sort of blueprint, plans for… I wasn’t even sure what it was, but it was quite sizable.

I put the blueprint aside and looked through the ocean of papers some more. After searching around a bit more, I found another piece of paper that caught my eye. I picked it up and brought it to the lamp, only to reveal the paper’s contents to be completely nonsensical. No words, no letters, just weird symbols. There was one thing I could get from it, though. It was made with a documental format in mind.

Not wanting a headache at the moment, I set that aside as well. It was still pretty early, so I opened the door and peeked out. Papyrus was nowhere in sight. I’d imagine he wouldn’t get mad over me leaving my room for something like showering…

I walked out and looked around some more. Nope, no sign of him. I walked along the railing and stopped to look at Sans’ door. **_Maybe I should check up on him, just in case he did anything stupid while drunk in there…_**

Walking up to the door, I gently put my hand on the handle. I slowly opened the do- aaand he fell off the be. A loud thud echoed throughout the room as Sans came into contact with the floor. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do about that, so I just let him be and closed the door. I then suddenly realised that I had no clue where the bathroom was, and may have had to ask Papyrus…

I walked downstairs and back into the kitchen where Papyrus stands, arms crossed. “YES, WHAT IS IT, HUMAN?” Papyrus asked. “Um, where’s the bathroom around here?” I politely asked. “LAST DOOR AT THE VERY END UPSTAIRS.” He answered. I did think that that door lead to the bathroom, but I didn’t want to take any chances. “DO YOU INTEND TO CLEAN YOURSELF, HUMAN?” I sheepishly nodded. It dawned on me just how embarrassing that question was, why hadn’t I just showered at the Inn? 

“DO YOU OWN ANY SLEEPING WEAR, HUMAN?” Now that Papyrus brought up the topic of clothing, I was reminded that I had been wearing the same attire since I fell. I took a quick whiff of my sweater, it smelled odd, not disgusting or anything, just odd. I could also make out the smell of cigar smoke, it was faint but it was there. _**I should probably limit my visits at Grillby’s.**_ This sweater had been infused with the dust remains of the monsters from the Ruins and the dirt I landed on a few days ago. How was anyone not bothered by the smell? It wasn’t particular strong, but if you were close enough you’d definitely smell something. “I FIGURED YOU MIGHT HAVE SAID THAT, HUMAN.” Papyrus proudly said, he stood to his full height, placing both his hands on his hips. 

“YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL, HUMAN!” Papyrus’ voice boomed throughout the kitchen, almost making me want to cover my poor sensitive ears. **_Grateful? For what?_** Thinking about it, I should have been more appreciative towards both of them. Sans and Papyrus haven't done anything that could be considered life-threatening to me, besides, weren’t they suppose to capture me? Instead, they've been letting me do as I please. And they didn’t even “force” me to come here, I was invited. I even helped Papyrus become a better cook. If they did want me dead, then why do any of this? I was literally the last chance at their freedom, isn't that what they wanted? And isn’t withholding a human without the knowledge of the King considered treason? And by the way they've been talking and behaving towards me makes me think that they haven't contacted the King about me. _**Why… just why were they being so “nice” towards someone they barely knew? Was it because I was a human? It doesn't really matter anyway, that still isn’t a reason for them to be nice to me. Could it be that they've taken a liking towards me?**_

I gave Papyrus the sweetest, most appreciative, most genuine smile I could muster. This innocent act of mine caught Papyrus off guard. “WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT, HUMAM?” Papyrus asked, that proud grin he had disappearing, being replaced with confusion. “You're right, Papyrus. I should be grateful, not only towards you, but Sans, too. You're not trying to kill me, you haven't tried to get rid of me, you haven’t made me do anything I don't like, you even wanted me to have dinner with you guys, which is something I truly enjoyed.” “NO… I… THAT ISN’T… YOU'RE… “ Papyrus mumbled. He doesn't have any skin, but I bet he would've been blushing a bit at that moment if he did. Like Sans, Papyrus probably wasn’t used to being thanked. This whole ordeal had caused Papyrus to shyly start fiddling with his hands. It was cute, and I would have found it adorable if he had been wearing that apron from earlier. “And thanks to the both of you, Snowdin's turned into one of the safest places in the underground, you even made the monsters here stop killing each other. Monsters living here don’t have to fear for their lives anymore, they can wake up every morning knowing that they won’t turn to dust in the next few minutes as long they stay here. This might be stupid or naïve of me to say, but I think you two are wonderful people. And I’m glad I met the both of you. I’m also grateful for everything you two have done for me so far… I truly am.”

A small smile had taken over Papyrus, it wasn’t an arrogant smile, nor did it had any malice behind it, it was the type of smile you’d smile when you’ve been appreciated for all your hard work when it had gone unnoticed by others, and Papyrus was desperately trying to hide it. Papyrus covered his mouth with the palm of his hand, refusing to even glance at my direction. “I BELIEVE YOU MIGHT HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD WHAT I HAD MEANT BY “BEING GRATEFUL”, HUMAN.” Papyrus murmured. My head had slightly tilted, there hadn’t been any other thing I was supposed to be grateful for, so I had to let Papyrus explain it to me. “WHEN I HAD SAID YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL, I WAS REFERRING TO THE SLEEPING WEAR I HAD PURCHASED YESTERDAY.” I gave Papyrus a confused stare, which he was able to figure out that he should explain further. “YOU SEE, HUMAM? I HAD SANS KEEP AN EYE ON YOU WHILE I WAS BUSY WITH PREPARATIONS, AND SANS MENTIONED SOMETHING ABOUT YOU ONLY HAVING THAT ONE PARTICULAR OUTFIT YOUR CURRENTLY WEARING. AND WE THOUGHT IT BE BEST IF I HAD GONE OUT TO WATERFALL AND BOUGHT YOU SOME CLOTHING, SINCE YOU ONLY HAD THAT ONE OUTFIT ON YOU, I CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING TO SLEEP IN, SO I DECIDED GET YOU SOMETHING COMFORTABLE TO SLEEP IN. BUT I RAN INTO A PROBLEM, YOU SEE? I WAS UNAWARE OF WHAT YOUR SIZE WAS, SO I BOUGHT EVERY SIZE THEY HAD, AND I WAS GOING TO HAVE YOU TRY EACH ONE OF THEM ON UNTIL WE FOUND ONE THAT WOULD FIT YOU.”

“Papyrus…” His name was the only thing that had escaped my lips. “That was really sweet of you, Papyrus. Thank you. This is what I meant when I said you were a wonderful person. But this wasn’t necessary at all.” Papyrus scoffed at that statement. “NONSENSE, HUMAN! I REFUSE TO LET SOMEONE LIKE YOU TO LOWER THEIR STANDARDS SO LOW THAT THEY’RE CONTENT WITH LIVING IN THAT WORN-OUT, ODD SMELLING ATTIRE, WHILE UNDER MY PROTECTION! YOU WILL GO UPSTAIRS AND TRY ON EVERY Single PIECE OF CLOTHING UNTIL WE FIND ONE THAT BEST SUITS YOU! AM I CLEAR?!” _**I knew he wouldn’t react well to my polite refusal, but I didn’t expect a reaction like this.**_

“Yes, Sir!” I didn’t know why I listened, or why I didn’t even try to arguing, maybe it would had been useless or perhaps I was looking forward to this? I returned back upstairs and walked to the end of the carpet up to the bathroom door. I figured changing in there would be the better option, I would be able to see how good I looked in something other than this. “I’LL BE RIGHT BACK, HUMAN. I JUST NEED TO RETRIEVE YOUR SLEEPING WEAR.” Papyrus said, before he had entered a room I hadn’t gone in yet, it was probably his room. Sometime past before Papyrus came out holding 3 boxes which had been stacked on top of each other’s. 

When Papyrus said he bought every size, he wasn’t lying. Papyrus basically forced me to put on every single peach of clothing in that box. Some were a tad too big for me and some were so small I couldn’t even try it on. The ones I had considered to fit me just fine had been outright denied by Papyrus. “WE WILL KEEP LOOKING UNTIL WE FIND ONE THAT FITS YOU PERFECTLY, HUMAN! YOU SHOULD ALWAYS STRIVE FOR PERFECTION! Papyrus advised. Even though for the past few several minutes I had only been trying out different clothes, I actually found myself having some fun, Papyrus on the other hand was growing inpatient, but he endured it. We ran through several pieces of clothing’s until we found one Papyrus had approved of. Unsurprisingly, it was black, but it felt smooth like silk, just moving in these pyjamas felt great. “How do I look?” I asked, Papyrus gave it some thought before he answered. “YOUR OVERALL APPEARANCE GIVES OFF THE IMAGE HOW FRAIL AND FRAGILE YOU APPEAR.” _**Was that a compliment or straight facts?**_ “BUT IN MY PERSONAL OPINION, HUMAN, NO MATTER WHAT CLOTHES YOU WEAR, YOU SHALL ALWAYS REMAIN DAZZLING TO THE EYE.” Papyrus grinned as he said that, probably getting payback for what I had done to him some time ago. 

I started to feel a bit shy, myself not used to compliments. My face started to feel hot and I turned to the mirror only to see my cheeks had turned a rosy red. A victorious cackle escaped Papyrus when he saw I noticed my face turned a shade of red. “WORDS HAVE A VERY POWERFUL EFFECT ON PEOPLE, DON’T THEY, HUMAN?” _**Papyrus was definitely enjoying this, wasn’t he?**_ My only response to him was a slightly annoyed pout. “I’m going shower now, Papyrus. ” Feeling defeated, I gave Papyrus the last box of clothes back, he let out another victorious cackle when I had closed the door on him. “YOU MAY USE THE SPARE TOWELS ON THE RAILINGS, HUMAN.” Papyrus said on the other side. _**Why do I get the feeling I’ll find myself in a position like this again?**_

After showering, I placed my day clothes in the room giving to me, wearing these comfy pajamas instead. Papyrus was sitting in the living room, watching whatever had been playing on that gigantic TV of his. It was hard trying to make out that expression of his, but I’m certain he was annoyed for some reason. I sat next to Papyrus, he didn’t seem to mind it, I did make sure to but some distance between us. “Good evening, darlings! And welcome back to the ever most popular and only news channel in the entire underground. The only thing worth mentioning tonight is the killing rates for this week, and the results are quite shocking!” A very enthusiastic news reporter announced. This overly enthusiastic news reporter had resemble that of a human, which was the surprising part. Well, he almost resembled one, except for some slight… differences. His body was metallic, was he some sort of robot perhaps? He didn’t have 2 arms, instead he had 4, and it was the same with his eyes. He had 4 bloodshot eyes. And that long black hair of his, which in my opinion I kinda liked. But what ruined it for me was that arrogant smile of his. _**He was probably one of those popular big shots here in the underground.**_ Those ratings at the upper right corner of the TV confirmed it, he was definitely somebody you wouldn’t want to mess with.

“Who’s he?” I inquired, Papyrus gave me a wide-eyed disbelief stare. “YOU REALLY DON’T KNOW WHO HE IS, HUMAM?” I shook my head, Papyrus looked at me in a way I could only describe as envy. “HIS A VERY INFLUENTIAL MONSTER KNOW AS METTATON.” Papyrus grunted. _**He really didn’t seem to like this guy.**_ “AND NOT KNOWING WHO HE IS, IS SOMETHING I ENVY ABOUT YOU, HUMAN. IF WERE LUCKY, WE WONT RUN INTO HIM IN THE NEAR FUTURE, AND IF THINGS KEEP MOVING SMOOTHLY… HE WON’T BE AROUND FOR LONG.” Papyrus grinned at his own comment, was he planning on killing this Mettaton fellow?

I didn’t feel comfortable talking about killing someone, so I turned my attention back to the news channel. “Hardly anyone has died this week, have the Guards finally gotten of their lazy asses and actually done their job for once, or had there recently been a ceasefire between Muffet and the Salvation’s?” _**Muffet? Salvation? Just who were these people?**_ “THEY ARE NOTHING BUT A NUISANCES, HUMAN.” Papyrus answered my question before I even asked it. _**Could this guy read minds or something?!**_ “PERSONALLY, I BELIEVE MUFFET IS MORE OF A THREAT THAN THOSE SALVATION’S. AND IF I MAY, ALLOW ME TO GIVE YOU A FEW WORDS OF WISDOM, HUMAN. STAY CLEAR OF ANY SPIDER BAKERIES, NO MATTER HOW TEMPTED YOU’D BE, YOU’LL LOWER YOUR CHANCES OF RUNNING INTO That **WHORE**.” There was a lot of emphasis on the word “whore”. Even some the ladies down here were bad, huh? _**Since we were on the topic of asking questions, I might as well ask Papyrus what his and Sans’ jobs were.**_ “Hey, Papyrus? What exactly do you and Sans do as Royal Guards?” Papyrus raised his boney brow, he started lightly tapping the side of his skull with those sharp phalanges of his.

“YOU SEE, HUMAN, ME AND MY BROTHER WERE PICKED BY ASGORE HIMSELF FOR THE POSITION OF ROYALE GUARDSMAN, FOR OUR EXCEPTIONAL CAPABILITES. AFTER SOME TIME, I WAS PROMOTED TO LIEUTENANT. THAT POSITION WAS ORIGINALLY MENT FOR SANS, BUT HE REFUSED, SO THE KING GAVE THE POSITION TO ME. I MOSTLY DO PATROL AND GIVE THE CAPTAIN REPORTS IF ANYTHING WORTH MENTIONING WAS HAPPENING, WHILE SANS WORKS THE STATION. CAUSE OF OUR RANKS, WE DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO, AND WE ONLY TAKE ORDERS FROM THE CAPTAIN OR THE KING HIMSELF.” I didn’t say anything back, I decided to let all this new information slowly sink in.

Another question came to rose when Papyrus mentioned the King. “And what’s the King like?” “HIS A TYRANT.” Papyrus was fast to answer, a little too fast, did he have some kind of grudge towards the King, maybe? “PERSONALLY, I WANT HIM DEAD. HE’S THE REASON THE UNDERGROUND BECAME A HELL FOR US. ALL THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE HE THREW A TANTRUM.” “What caused him to do any of this?” It wasn’t a surprise a wanted to know more about the man who I’d eventually had to encounter. “THE MAIN REASON IS THE DEATH OF HIS CHILDREN. THEY DIED A LONG TIME AGO, I’M NOT ENTIRELY SURE HOW THEY DIED, ONLY THE KING, FORMER QUEEN AND THE CAPTAIN KNOWS ABOUT IT.”

I found myself feeling pity towards the King. It was stupid of me to feel pity towards someone who was responsible for so many deaths, but I couldn’t help it. He was a parent who lost his children, who wouldn’t be angry, bet that wasn’t an excuse for what he did. “ONE OF HIS CHILDREN HAD BEEN A FEMALE HUMAN, HE ADOPTED, YOU KNOWN?” That statement caused me to look Papyrus straight in the eyes, or eye socket? It didn’t look like Papyrus was joking, so the King had adopted a human kid at some point.

“WHEN SHE DIED, HER SOUL WAS SUPPOSED MANIFEST OUTSIDE HER BODY, BUT WHEN THE BODY WAS FOUND, THE SOUL WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. IF ASGORE DID HAVE IT THEN WE ALL WOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE SURFACE BY NOW.” Papyrus said. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to react towards that, so I decided to stay silent and wait for Papyrus to say something. For some reason, Papyrus had been looking at me strangely, his eyes we narrowed, those red dots were glowing faintly. This sudden change of events felt uncomfortable, and I gave Papyrus a weak smile that felt a little bit too strained.

“HUMAN? HAVE WE MET BEFORE?” Papyrus asked. _**I’m pretty sure I hadn’t met a walking talking skeleton before I fell down here**_. “Last time a check, no.” I responded. “ARE YOU SURE, HUMAN. I FEEL LIKE I HAVE SEEN YOU SOMEWHERE BEFORE, BUT WHERE? IS IT POSSIBLE WE MET IN A PREVIOUS Life? IT DOESN’T MATTER NOW, WE CAN CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION WHEN “HE” ARRIVES.” _**“He?” Who's “He?”**_

Papyrus glance over at the TV before his eyes widened. “OH SHOOT!” Papyrus screamed. “IT’S ALREADY THIS LATE. HUMAN? IT’S UNFORTUNATE THAT WE HAVE TO END THIS DELIGHTFUL CHITCHAT, BUT TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY.” Papyrus stood up, not before he wrapped his arm around my waist, lifting me a few centimeters off the floor. This felt so I’m embarrassing, I was probably blushing, but Papyrus was too busy marching up the stairs to noticed. When we had arrived to “my” room, Papyrus had gently placed me back onto the carpet floor.

“WE MUST GET THE APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF REST FOR TOMORROW’S TROUBLES, HUMAN.” Papyrus said. “GOOD NIGHT, HUMAN. I’LL BE SEEING YOU TOMORROW.” “Good night.” I managed to say before Papyrus had walked off, he looked over his shoulder and gave me a big grin. **_Why do I feel like something big is going to happen tomorrow?_**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else can't wait to see what happens tomorrow? Just me?
> 
> Also, I'm not entirely sure why, but this whole chapter feels off. What do you guys/gals think?


	8. Frightful phone call (part one)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions regarding this fanfic, the link to my Tumblr will be down below.
> 
> http://smecticsstuff.tumblr.com
> 
> Enjoy reading this chapter^^

_**KNOCK! KNOCK!** _

A loud hard knock jolted me awake. I gave the person on the other side of the door an irritated glare. “WAKE UP, HUMAM!” Papyrus called out from the other side. My expression softened as I realized who it was. A soft chuckle escaped my lips as I begrudgingly got up. I could hear Papyrus impatiently tapping the carpet floor with those boots of his. I swiftly made my way over, my movements uneven, those blueprints momentarily caught my attention. _ **Just what were on these things?**_ The door gave out a loud creaking as I opened it. I stood in the doorway of “my” room. “FINALLY,” Papyrus grunted. He sounded irritated, but that big smile on that smug face of his said otherwise. “I’M PLEASED TO SEE THAT IT TOOK LITTLE EFFORT IN WAKING YOU, HUMAN.” “I usually wake up early anyways.” I responded. “IF ONLY SANS COULD LEARN FROM YOUR EXAMPLE, HUMAN, THEN IT WOULD MAKE THE REST OF MY DAYS MORE ENJOYABLE.”

Papyrus went quite after that, his focus shifting from me to Sans’ room. “HUMAN? IM VERY WELL AWARE YOU HAVE JUST AWOKEN, BUT HOW ABOUT STARTING OFF THE DAY WITH A LITTLE CHALLENGE?” I gave it a quick thought. I didn’t mind doing something to wake up this groggy body of mine. “If it doesn’t involve anything particularly dangerous, I don’t mind.” Papyrus gave me a challenging grin. “IT’S QUITE A SIMPLE TASK, HUMAN, FOR ME, THAT IS… ON SOME OCCASIONS.” Papyrus murmured out that last part. “ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS WAKE UP THAT DRUNKEN BROTHER OF MINE.” I gave Papyrus an emotionless stare. I had been expecting something more… puzzle related. 

It just sounded like Papyrus didn’t feel like waking up his brother and he wanted to shift that responsibility over to me. I didn’t mind of course. I saw no harm in waking up Sans, and I highly doubt he’ll be that mad over it. And by the off chance he did get a bit grumpy, I’d make it up with my cooking, he seemed to enjoy last night’s dinner.

“Sure, doesn’t seem all that difficult to do.” I confidently stated. “YOU SOUND QUITE SURE OF YOURSELF, HUMAN? BEING TOO CONFIDENT ISN’T NECESSARILY ALWAYS A GOOD THING, IT CAN ALSO LEED TO ONE’S SHORTCOMINGS. BUT BY THE OFF CHANCE YOU DO SUCCEED, MEET ME IN THE KITCHEN, AND BRING THAT BROTHER OF MINE ALONG, DRAG HIM IF NECESSARY, WE HAVE MUCH TO DISCUSS.” I took note on every single word Papyrus spoke, including the part of dragging Sans out of bed, which was amusing to think about. Dragging a tall skeleton (who was probably still wasted by the way he had behaved last night) out of his room into the more opened space of the living room, would probably have made some humans laugh if this were to happen on the surface. 

“Will do, Papyrus.” Papyrus let out a soft cackle before he turned his back on me and left. This shouldn’t be too difficult. _**Papyrus was probably trying to discourage me… right?**_ It was only a few short steps to Sans’ room. I wanted to see if he had already woken up, but I couldn’t make out anything through the keyhole. I put my ear up against his door. Soft faint snores could be heard. _**So he’s still asleep, huh?**_ “Hey, Sans?” I called out. There was no response, just more faint snores. “Don’t get mad but I’m coming in, alright?” I took a long inhaling, my fingers firmly gripping the knob. _**I can do this. I’m just waking him up that’s all.**_ Slowly turning the knob, I opened the door just enough to poke my head throughout. If had to describe Sans’ room… I would say it wasn’t very… organized. 

Tattered clothing laid everywhere, empty food bags were stacked in one corner, and a huge pile of socks stacked in the other corner. But that wasn’t the worst of it. A very strong stench was pouring out of his room, it made my nose twitched. It wasn’t awful, but it certainly wasn’t delightful. In the far corner we’re where does faint snores resonated. His bed was pressed against the bedroom walls. The darkness of the room made it difficult for me to make out Sans’ form, even with the hallway lights shining through the slightly opened door, it still didn’t help much.

Calling out to him had only become a hopeful dream at this point. I didn’t want to shout his name, and cause him to jolt like Papyrus had done with me. I decided using a more direct approach would be necessary. I had to push my way inside, the clothes lying near the door made it difficult to open. _**He really needs to clean this place.**_ I made sure to keep the door ajar, allowing the hallway lights to pierce through the nearby darkness. I tiptoed my over to Sans, making sure to walk over anything that looked messy. Sans was curled up, the blanket wrapped around his body except for his feet. He’s sockets were shut, which was surprising, I haven’t even seen them blink before. He’s breathing was steady, every few seconds a dim red glow would pierce through those sleepy sockets. His jacket was still on the bed, at least he was able get it off. I knelt down, my arms rested at the edge of the mattress. The mattress sunk a bit, and caused Sans’ sleeping body to roll over to my side. 

“Sans?” I whispered. “It’s time to wake up. Papyrus said if you didn’t get up I’d have to drag you.” Sans kept on snoring. _**This isn’t going to work.**_ I grabbed onto Sans’ shoulder, giving it a light shake. “Wake up, Sans. Otherwise I’ll have to drag you and I think we both know I wouldn’t be able to pull that off even if I wanted to.” I shook Sans’ shoulder again, this time more forceful. A smug smile crossed my face when one of those sockets opened halfway. That red light flickered weakly as he surveyed his surroundings before finally falling onto me.

He gave me a tired smile, still curled up. “Damn.” His rough voice sounded dry. Sans lazy sat up only halfway, he winced when he pressed his hand against the side of his skull. “Remind me to take it easy with mustard. “Or how about I help you stop drinking that stuff all together?” I suggested. Sans let out a dry chuckle as he roughly rub both his sockets. _**I’ll take that as a no.**_ “Nice outfit.” Sans commented on the sleeping wear Papyrus gave me. “Thank you. Papyrus bought it.” I said. “How’d he know yer size?” Sans curiously asked. “Thing is… he didn’t know.” I responded. “He bought all kinds of stuff in different sizes, didn’t he?” Sans was right on the mark. He didn’t need me to say anything, the answer was practically written on my face.

Sans stared at me for a little while before his sharp teeth departed. “I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, but why exactly are you in my room?” Sans politely asked. “I get that I am a very charming and an irresistible skeleton and practically every chick in town would wanna spend the night with me, but I didn’t expect for you to sneak in here for a night raid, Frisk.” Sans’ golden canine glinted in the poorly lit room, his single red eye glowed a little brighter than it had moments ago. 

I playfully rolled my eyes at the possibility of a night raid. _**How would that even work doing it with a skeleton?**_ “It’s early morning, Sans.” I corrected. “And didn’t come here to raid you, nor have I raided anyone for that matter, especially not somebody I’ve only known for a few days.” Sans only gave a light shrug. “Your loss.” Sans replied. _**He’s probably joking about this whole thing, but I might as well have some fun with this while it lasts.**_ “But I’ll consider it.” I could feel the corner of my lips move upwards as I said that. Both Sans’ sockets widened when he heard that. “Didn’t expect for you to would consider it, but it shouldn’t be a bad experience if you follow through.” Sans was quick to respond. “We can continue this another time, Sans, but we should really heed downstairs, Papyrus might get mad if we stay here too long.”

We were running a bit late, and thankfully Sans understood that this morning could take a drastic turn if we didn’t show up soon. When we left Sans’ room, he had been swaying from side to side, the effects of that drink he had last night must’ve had some lingering effects. I allowed Sans to wrap his arm around my shoulder as we descended down the stairs. I was afraid he might have had an accident if I didn’t help him out. The TV was still left on the news channel, that robotic guy was lying seductively on his desk. When we finally made it to the kitchen, Papyrus had been busy with one of the cooking pots. It looked like he was making spaghetti again. He had a bowl filled with different kinds of vegetables that had been cut into smaller pieces. He was probably making sauce for the spaghetti.

We had been standing in the kitchen doorway before Papyrus finally tore his gaze from the steaming pot, shifting it over towards us. His jaw dropped, he held a knife in one hand and had lost his grip, the sharp knife almost fell onto the counter top but Papyrus had snagged it so quickly and with such precision, it made me wonder if the thing ever had slipped out of Papyrus’ firm grasp. “AH! I SEE YOU HAVE SUCCEEDED, HUMAN. I HAD ANTICIPATED YOU’D BE UNSUCCESSFUL AND WOULD REQUIRE MY AID, BUT YOU CONTINUE TO EXCEED MY EXPECTATIONS, HUMAN.” Papyrus exclaimed.

Before I could get a word out, Sans had lightly nudge the side of my ribs, trying to get my attention. I looked over Sans, he gestured over at the table. I knew what he wanted me to do and I complied. We slowly but steadily made our way over at the table, Sans no longer needed my assistance and helped himself to the unoccupied chairs. I decided to sat down at the other end of the table, Papyrus gave Sans a disappointed glare, Sans retorted by sending an amused wink his way. This only seemed to infuriate Papyrus, and fortunately it hadn’t escalated.

Those two continued with their silent arguments, they didn’t involve me or had outright forgotten about me. I didn’t complain, I preferred to stray from any forms of conflict, that’s how I’ve lived this long. But there were occasions I actively involved myself into defusing the situation. It felt great knowing I did some good, I wished I could’ve done a bit more. There were a lot of innocent people who had their lives taken away by the Mafia. Those who were about die always screamed… cried… fought back… pleaded for anyone to save them. It was a common occurrence, stuff like this happened almost every day, even a nobody like me had seen a few in person. It wasn’t easy watching something so horrific, matter of fact it was actually painful and sad. Nobody was willing to help… nobody wanted to risk it… nobody wanted to make themselves a target… nobody was that suicidal… not even me. 

Standing out was basically holding up a sign that read “shoot me”, staying quiet and making yourself look small had been the only way to live. It had been the only way to survive. Even when doing all that you weren’t necessarily away from any danger. There were still those “protection” fees we had to worry about. The payment was ludicrous. It was already difficult trying to pay the rent each month, and the “protection” fee was at least a week’s worth of cash. Jobs were scarce in my area, many people were struggling just trying to get by, and many of those people couldn’t pay their rent anymore nor could they pay the fee.

A feeling of dread always loomed above everyone’s head when the end of the month came around. We all knew what happened when you didn’t pay up every dime, you “disappeared”. As in you were killed somewhere in an alleyway, the body usually discovered the next day, and just around the same time, an apartment door would open up. And what made it so much worse for me was the fact that they all were good, honest, hardworking people.

It was unfair. Why was it that the good people of my city had to suffer and struggle by those who lived a life of crime? I get it. When you have nowhere to go and have no other way of getting cash, you choose to live a life of crime, weather you wanted to or not. And it was sad to think about. This was the world we lived in, and that was how it was going to stay unless somebody was DETERMINED to fight for change, fight for a better tomorrow. But nobody was that suicidal… not even the junkies you’d find wondering in the deepest darkest parts of the alleyways.

I hadn’t realized I was sitting hunched over at the table. My fingers had entwined with each other at some point, but for whatever reason they were wet. I only noticed this when both Sans and Papyrus had called out to me. My head jerked up when they called, I gave both of them a confusing glance. They both looked worried. I was confused to why they looked the way they did, and that’s when I realized my cheeks felt wet. I had been quietly sobbing. Both corners of my eyes pricked with tears, my vision blur as it was surrounded by hot tears. My sleeve soaked up the fresh tears as I roughly rubbed my eyes. They must’ve notice me crying when they were still silently arguing with each other. There was a lump in my throat, it felt weird every time I inhaled. Thinking about the reality we lived in always cause me to shed a few tears, that’s why I try not to think about, it would hurt less that way. 

I noticed Sans had leaned closer, while Papyrus made his way over. Papyrus towered over me, but it didn’t have the same intimating effect it always did, maybe it had something do to with that concerned expression they both had?

Those red lights that would usually flash in their sockets were hardly even glowing. Neither of them were smiling, smirking, grinning or feeling the slightest bit of smug. “Hey… Frisk… you aren’t crying cause of us now are you?” Sans worriedly asked. His words sounded so genuine, which had made me feel a tiny bit better, but he also sounded afraid. Papyrus asked his own question right after Sans had finished his. “HAVE WE DONE SOMETHING TO UPSET YOU, FRISK?” Papyrus sounded even more worried than Sans had, he even used my name, which is only something he’s done once, but like Sans he sounded afraid, a lot more afraid. Papyrus was nervously fiddling with his fingers, while sweat droplet were forming on Sans’ forehead. _**How does a skeleton even sweat?**_

My voice was shaky when I tried speaking. I took in a few extra breaths before I spoke. “No… it doesn’t have anything to do with you guys… I just remembered something I shouldn’t have… I’m fine now… no need to worry anymore.” I could tell they weren’t fully convinced, even I wasn’t. They both shared a look and nodded. “WOULD YOU LIKE SOMETHING TO DRINK, FRISK?” Papyrus asked, still worried but less afraid this time. “Please…” I murmured. Papyrus went over to one of the cabinets, took out one the glasses and filling it with water.

“Hey… if something is bothering ya… talking about it can make it feel better, you know?” Sans suggested. He stood up from his seat, his movements still unsteady. He sat down right next to me, but didn’t make any attempt of getting closer. Papyrus returned shortly afterwards, he stood right beside me when he handed the glass to me. I didn’t hesitate downing that water. Both Sans and Papyrus remained silent, but close. On one hand I was happy they were so concerned about me and on the other hand it was starting to get awkward. I didn’t mean for this to happen, it just happened. They both were starting at me with such intensity I could feel myself shrinking underneath their fixed gaze. A silent prayer spilled from my lips, I wanted a way out of this situation, and thank the heavens for my prayer had been answered.

“WE COULD ALWAYS HAVE THAT DISCUSSION ANOTHER TIME IF YOU’D LIKE.” Papyrus said. I gave Papyrus an appreciative smile before nodding my head. “Yeah. It’s still pretty early, why not sit back and relax and worry about your troubles another time.” Sans said. He was really trying to liven up my mood, which I found to be sweet. “Sounds great.” I said.

After that, Papyrus went back to cooking, Sans decided that we should watch something to pass the time, which I agreed to. We sat together in the living room couch, Sans created some distance between us to give me some space, which was unnecessary, I wouldn’t have chased him away if he had gotten closer. Sans allowed me to decide what we should watch, every channel was staring that robot guy from the news channel. I never settled on something we could watch, and Sans didn’t seem interested what was playing, he had been more irritated than anything. He would always let out a soft growl whenever that Mettaton guy popped up. A little while later I left to go take a shower, after freshening up I was reluctant to put on my worn-out day clothes. I shuddered when the smell of faint cigar smoke entered my nostrils. _**I really need to wash these.**_

It was around 9 when I came back down. Sans wasn’t sitting in the living room, and I could hear inaudible whispers coming from the kitchen, he was probably talking to Papyrus or was arguing with him like before. I was about to make my entrance when Papyrus’ loud whisper stopped me. “IS IT REALLY NECESSARY TO TELL ‘HIM’ ABOUT THE HUMAN’S SUDDEN CHANGE IN MOOD? SURELY ‘HE’ WOULD NOT MIND US WITHHOLDING THIS INFORMATION FROM “HIM”? Papyrus whispered, tried to at least. I knew eavesdropping was wrong, but anyone would have done the exact same thing if the conversation was about you. I made sure they couldn’t see me, but in return I couldn’t see them either. “That’ll only piss ‘him’ off even more.” Sans quietly replied. “Remember, Papyrus. We have orders to watch over Frisk, keep her save, and report everything back to ‘him’ no matter how trivial. You know how ‘he’ gets when we don’t follow “his” orders to the letter.” 

This had been the second time this “he” guy was brought up. And by the way they both were talking about the guy, he sounded like their superior, which I found difficult to imagine. Papyrus told me there were only two people they took orders from, the King himself or the Captain. It definitely couldn’t be the King, Papyrus made it clear how I felt about him. There was a possibility they were talking about the Captain. I didn’t want to believe they ratted me out, and the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize it couldn’t have been the Captain. 

Why would Papyrus buy pajamas for somebody he’d eventually hand over, why would he have them teach him how to make a few dishes, why make sure they remained unharmed, why would Sans make an empty promise, and most of all, why had they shown genuine worry for somebody who properly had a few days left to live? Thinking about it logically, it just didn’t make sense to me. No matter how long and hard I thought about it, the logic still didn’t make since. 

But maybe there was somebody who had the same authority as the King and Captain? My eyes surveyed the living area and everything within it, until my gaze had fixated itself on one, specific portrait. That mysterious skeleton who stood besides Sans and Papyrus. I’ve been living in Snowdin for a few days now, and never once have I seen this absent individual. Was this terrifying and clearly more powerful looking skeleton their father or perhaps their brother? Was it possible that he was the one who gave them those orders? Does he also work for Asgore? Where was he? Could it be… he was… gone? 

Papyrus’ weak attempt at trying to whisper snapped me back to reality, which resulted in my current thoughts being submerged under layers of other things plaguing my mind. “I’M AWARE ‘HE’ CAN GET… VEXED AT TIMES… BUT DO YOU THINK ‘HE’ WILL BELIEVE WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE HUMAN SOBBING?” Papyrus asked, a hint of genuine fear could be detected. _**Why is me crying such a big deal? Plus, you guys weren’t the cause of it.**_ “That’s just hopeful thinking, Papyrus. Even if Frisk tried to defend us, “he’d” probably think we forced her to do it. But hey, look on the bright side, we’ve definitely done more good to her than bad. Granted, we did spook her in the beginning, but we made it up to her, didn’t we? “He’d” probably be pleased with everything we’ve done so far then be angry at us.” Sans tried to reassure his brother, I couldn’t see what was going on, but it sounded like it worked.

They went quiet for a moment, I used that opportunity to move away from the wall I had been leaning on and quietly made my over at the stairs. I loudly brought my foot down onto the staircase, trying to fool them both into believing I wasn’t present during their little chit-chat. It didn’t sit right with me doing something like this to them, but things would get awkward if they knew I was present the whole time. The sounds of pots and pans made its way into the living room, followed by a chair being moved.

I heaved a long sigh, trying to mask my face behind a cheery smile. It wasn’t difficult doing it, all I had to do was think of all the great times I had with those two, and I found myself smiling almost immediately. Both corners of my lips curled upwards, and trying to bring them down again didn’t seem plausible. I nonchalantly waltz back into the kitchen area with that cheery smile of mine. Papyrus was still busy cooking, while Sans sat by his lonesome with his chin resting in his palm. They both seemed tense, but relaxed when they saw me smiling instead of crying.

“ARE YOU FEELING WELL NOW, FRISK?” Papyrus dropped everything he was busy with and made his way to my side. He then proceeded to bend down, the back of his hand pressed against my forehead. My breathing started to waver, both my cheeks felt hot, and the smile I had grew wide. I turned my gaze from Papyrus over to Sans, and just for a moment, I could see a flash of jealousy cross those faceless features of his. The lights in his sockets died out when Papyrus had made that innocent move, but quickly burned bright when he noticed my eyes were fixed on him. He gave me a half-smile half-smirk with the usual wink flying my way. I returned the kind gesture, Papyrus cleared his throat when he realized he was being ignored. “BREAKFAST IS READY. GO SIT DOWN AND I’LL HAND YOU YOUR SURGINGS. I’M CONFIDENT YOU’LL BE IMPRESSED WITH MY NEW RECIPE.” Sans snickered at Papyrus’ statement, Papyrus look about ready to smack Sans across the face. 

“OH PLEASE, SANS. WITH THE AID OF THE HUMAN, I WAS ABLE TO CREATE THIS PERFECT BOWL OF…” Papyrus started, bringing a large bowl to the table. He violently put it down onto the table, some of the contents almost falling out. “SPAGHETTI!” he said proudly. Me and Sans looked down onto the bowl of spaghetti. It had a slightly more visible gradient of yellow than usual spaghetti, but I doubted that made a difference whatsoever. “SERVE YOURSELVES AND ENJOY.” He finished as he placed a bowl in front of me and Sans. I used the large fork dug into the bowl of spaghetti to grab me a stringy ball of spaghetti, letting it slide into my bowl. I put the fork back and Sans followed suite, getting himself some as well. I then picked up another nearby fork and proceeded to taste the spaghetti.

As I was chewing, I looked up to see Sans shoving a wad of it into his mouth, also starting to chew. In my personal opinion, it tasted rather good, I could tell Papyrus put everything he had into this spaghetti. While it didn’t taste perfect, eating it was still enjoyable. I finish my bowl as time passed, still not being all that full. Not knowing the repercussions, I started to add some more spaghetti to my bowl. Papyrus suddenly arrived back at the table, hand on the edge. “MY, MY, HUMAN! DO YOU ENJOY MY COOKING THAT MUCH?” He places his free hand onto his chest in a fancy manner. “OH, WHAT AM I SAYING? OF COURSE YOU DO! NO ONE CAN MERELY DISLIKE THE EXPERTISE KNOWN AS MY COOKING!” I giggled a bit, happy to see him change mood so swiftly. “SANS! ARE YOU NOT GOING TO GET YOURSELF SOME MORE?” Papyrus started again, redirecting his attention to Sans. “Nah, I think I’m good…” he said, slouching down in his chair. “HMPH! IF ONLY YOU COULD UNDERSTAND MY CREATIONS AS DEAR FRISK HERE.” He said, throwing his open hand out to me. My smile grew, not expecting my appreciation to be praised in such a way.

I finished my second bowl, thinking I won’t go hungry for a while after all that. I got up from my chair and started to walk over to the living area when I heard Papyrus speak. “FULL, HUMAN?” he asked. “Yep! Thanks, it was really good!” I said. “Really good” may have been a bit of an overstatement, but I would say whatever and do anything to see Papyrus’ usually drooped mouth curl up into a delighted smile as it did after saying that. He almost immediately looked away as soon as he realized he was growing a smile. I knew he couldn’t see me, but I smiled back at him regardless.

I continued my way into the living room, sitting down onto the couch, my eyes wandering a bit before being fixated on the TV. That Mettaton guy was on as per usual. I decided to endure his performances, if you can even call them performances. After a while, Sans came to sit down next to me, also locking his eyes onto the TV. I turned my head to him. “Is this seriously all that comes on?” I asked in a half-serious tone of voice. “Yep, you either watch this or don’t watch TV at all.” I didn’t expect a good answer, but looked back to the TV with a heavy sigh regardless.

If I were to guess, I’d say about an hour had passed before we heard a knock on the door. “I’LL GET IT!” Papyrus yelled, coming into the living room from the kitchen. He opened the door, a “YES?” coming from his mouth. “Greetings, Papyrus. I’m here for the bodyguard business.” I hear a deep voice say. I leaned back a bit, trying to get a good view of the person Papyrus was talking to. Papyrus’ figure was blocking most of the doorway, denying me a look at this person. That wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as Papyrus lead the person into the house after quietly speaking with them for a few seconds. He had a muscular body, long black hair and an intimidating look overall. He wore brown working pants, tattered suspenders holding them up, his sleeve of his white shirt had been rolled up. His facial features resemble a horse, and If we’re completely honest with myself, he looked handsome. He was probably I big hit with the ladies with that friendly smile and intimidating body of his. I found myself unable to tore my gaze away from those bulky muscles of his. I felt entranced by those dangerous weapons. And if it weren’t for Sans’ loud grunting guiding me out of my entrancement, I was relatively certain this new individual would had been offended by me staring at him like some sort of rare creature. I briefly turned to Sans, his sharp teeth clenched together, creating strange sounds as they moved against each other. _**Did Sans have a grudge against this guy?**_ He didn’t look like the type of person who enjoys anything related to violence. 

The moment this new monster entered the living room, his head turned to where we had been sitting and the instant his gaze fell upon me, his eyes shot up and his jaw agape, he staggered back almost coming into contact with the wall. And the only thing that spilled from his lips was “Is… that… actually a real human…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a bit stressful writing this chapter. I had messed up my sleeping schedule in the process now I'm stuck with a headache.
> 
> All comments are welcomed!!


	9. Frightful phone call (part two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for posting this late. I didn’t have much time to work on this chapter. I also apologize if not much happened in today's chapter.
> 
> If you have any questions regarding this fanfic, the link to my Tumblr will be down below.
> 
> http://smecticsstuff.tumblr.com
> 
> Enjoy reading this chapter^^

“WHY DO YOU SOUND SO SURPRISED, AARON? HAS MY BROTHER FAILED TO MENTION ABOUT THE HUMAN?” 

“Your brother was vague about who I was supposed to be guarding. I shrugged it off, thinking it wasn’t that important if he left out that small detail.” This new monster who’s name was Aaron replied. He would occasionally shift his gaze from Papyrus over to me, staring in awe and uncertainty. I noticed he was shifting his body as if he was uncomfortable about something, I had a guess to maybe way.

I was probably the cause of it, and remaining the source of his growing discomfort wasn’t very appealing to me. Introduction was in order, I didn’t want him to have a bad opinion about me, it could create future problems for everyone currently present. Papyrus and Aaron were chattering amongst themselves, Sans had been idly observing, his chin resting on the palm of his hand, his attention turned over to me when I had basically jumped off my seat. 

I figured a welcoming smile would probably let Aaron feel a bit more at ease, that or it could make him suspicious of me, it’s a gamble I’m willing to take. Both tall individuals tore their gaze from each other when I had confidently made my way over. Papyrus raised his brow, arms crossed, while Aaron tried to keep a relaxed posture. I reached my hand out towards him. He seemed confused at first. He turned over to Papyrus, who only nodded. There were a few long seconds before we shook hands. Both our eyes widened from the touch.

His hand was rough, yet gentle, and I was convinced that if he were to apply more pressure, there’s no doubt he would easily break my hand. And he was probably surprised at how soft and delicate mine were. I was the first to break the awkward silence between us. “Hello, Aaron. My name is Frisk. It’s nice to meet you.” I cheerfully said, still holding his hand. It seemed to work a bit, he looked more relaxed than he did moments ago, and a soft smirk crossed his face. 

“Hello there, young lady. I’m Aaron. Pleasure to of be acquainted.” Aaron responded with a handshake of his own. We both gave out a light laugh when the awkward air between us vanished. Papyrus loudly cleared his throat, he was either growing uncomfortable or didn’t like being ignored. “SINCE WHATEVER THAT WAS IS OUT OF WAY, AND SEEING AS AARON HERE HAS FINALLY ARRIVED, WE CAN HAVE THAT DISCUSSION WE WERE SUPPOSED HAVE WITH YOU, HUMAN.” Papyrus Said.

I recalled Papyrus wanting to talk about something with me, but some unpleasant memories got in the way. “You guys might wanna sit down for this, beats standing.” Sans suggested. Both me and Aaron gave each other a look of consideration, and we both decided it would be better to sit down than to stand the entire time. I reclaimed my previous spot. Aaron sat to the right of me, while sat to the right of me. I sat in between these two tall individuals as Papyrus stood right before us. 

“HUMAN, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHY WE BROUGHT AARON OVER HERE?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t really have a clue to why. Was I supposed to know?”

“NO, NO, YOU WEREN’T EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE INFORMED ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING ON.” I tilted my head at this. I was the only one in the room who didn’t have an idea of what was going on. I briefly glanced at both monsters who sat beside me. They appeared to have an understanding of what was going on. Papyrus continued on.

“I’LL BE FRANK WITH YOU, HUMAN. YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER. YOUR VERY EXISTENCE IS A CRIME AGAINST US MONSTERS. IF ANYONE OUTSIDE THESE WALLS WERE TO CATCH WIND OF YOUR EXISTENCE, THEN THINGS WOULD BECOME A LOT MORE PROBLEMATIC. ASGORE HAS SPIES ALL OVER THE UNDERGROUND, AND IF RUMORS WERE TO SPREAD ABOUT THE FINAL HUMAN ROAMING THESE ACURSED LANDS, ASGORE WOULD HAVE THE ENTIRE MILITIA ON PATROL.”

“You’ve probably been wondering why we haven’t captured you yet, am I right?” Sans asked. I gave a quick nod. I didn’t want to interrupt them, I was eager to find out to why they haven’t handed me over or why they had been nothing but kind to me, and why they invited Aaron over.

“If we gave you to the old bastard, he would become god-like. The thought of that guy obtaining even more power, it’s frightening. So we came up with a plan to stop Asgore. Our older brother Gaster was the one who came up with the idea, you haven’t met the guy yet, but you will soon. When we found you a few days ago, I contacted the guy about you, he ordered us to take you in, make sure we treated you nicely, show you not all monsters are pieces of shit, show you we can also be civilized. Don’t worry though, even if he hadn’t ordered us to do it, we still would’ve done it.”

_**So that guy in the painting is their brother, huh? And I’m going to meet him soon? Just looking at his picture is enough to make me shudder. Hopefully this Gaster gentleman is like his younger siblings, he must be, right? Wait, has this “he” guy I’ve been hearing about this entire time been their older brother? It would make scenes, he was the one who ordered them to take care of me, but why show me that not all monsters were bad?** _

“WE WERE ALSO ORDERED TO PROTECT YOU, HUMAN. BUT WE ALSO HAVE OUR JOBS TO DO. WE CAN’T AFFORD TO NEGLECT OUR DUTIES, OTHERWISE ASGORE WOULD GROW SUSPICIOUS OF OUR ABSENCE. SO I DECIDED TO HIRE AARON TO TAKE CARE OF YOU DURING THE DAY. AARON IS VERY WELL MANNERED AND VERY RESPECTFUL, BUT DON’T LET THAT FOOL YOU, HE IS VERY MUCH DANGEROUS AS ANY MONSTER WITH A HIGH LV.”

It wasn’t all that hard to believe that the guy sitting next to me was very dangerous, but I still found it hard to imagine this guy hurting anyone, he looked so friendly. Aaron noticed me staring at him rather intensely. For some odd reason, he started flexing his muscles. I found the sudden change of events quite amusing, Papyrus, not so much. Papyrus didn’t visually appear mad or annoyed, it’s more like he couldn’t believe what was happening.

I did a quick scan of Aaron’s soul, he was currently occupied with… more important matters to notice. The number took me by surprise. His LV was a solid 6. That’s the second highest number I’ve seen so far, Toriel’s LV was 11. Just to get your LV to 6 would require a lot EXP, either Aaron killed a lot of monsters or he killed those with a great amount of EXP. I briefly considered doing a quick scan of Sans and Papyrus’ souls, but decided against it. It was probably much higher than Aaron’s or even Toriel’s. They are part of the Royal Guard, killing monsters every now and then comes with the job. 

“Anyway… like Papyrus was saying. It’s not that we think you can’t protect yourself, it’s actually the opposite. Me and Papyrus were honestly impressed by how well you were able to handle most of the dogs, you even managed to beat most of ‘em without killing. You decided to spare them, show them mercy, something almost nobody would do unless they were under the influence of some strong shit. Look, what I’m trying to imply here is that yer way too nice, Frisk. Yer refusal to fight, yer kind-heartedness, that will get you killed eventually, and that’s the harsh truth. Snowdin is relatively calm, not much fighting goes on here, it’s not like the rest of the underground, which is why you haven’t encountered a real threat.”

“IT’S TRUE, HUMAN. WATERFALL IS NOT FAR FROM HERE, AND THE MONSTERS WHO ROAM THOSE GLOOMY CAVERNS ARE MORE PRONE TO FIGHTING THAN THE RESIDENTS OF SNOWDIN. YOU CANNOT SPEAK YOUR WAY OUT, YOU MUST FIGHT, SOMETHING YOU REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE. THAT’S WHERE AARON COMES IN. HE WILL PROTECT YOU FROM ANY MONSTER WHO BECOMES SUSPICIOUS OF YOU, AND HE WILL ALSO BE PROTECTING YOU FROM YOURSELF.”

“Myself…?”

“Yer refusal to fight remember? If you don’t fight, you will die, there isn’t any other option. We can’t force you to fight, and we don’t want you to fight. You might accidentally kill someone, and that’s the last thing we want to happen. The more you kill, the more EXP you gain, the more EXP you gain, the higher your LV rises, the higher your LV rises, the more distant you become from yourself. So just leave the fighting to us, Frisky, we don’t want ya end up being tainted with the undergrounds impurity, now do we?” Sans tried to brighten up the serious mood we all had been engulfed for the last several minutes. I gave everyone in the room an appreciative smile, but the smile I wore was fake. I was pretty sure the only one who saw through that fake smile was Sans. 

I closed my eyes, my back pressed up against the soft fabric of the couch, breathing a long heavy sigh of acknowledgement. I thought about everything both skeletons said throughout the entire conversation and the effects they had on me. Under normal circumstances, they were right. Talking would only get me so far down here. There are some people you just can’t reason with. It was only a matter of time before I met a relentless killer. Would I be able to talk my way out, or would I be forced to do something I would deeply regret? If I killed someone, would I still be myself? Would a killer like me still be worthy of forgiveness? The more I thought about my situation, the more I came to realize how grim it all was.

But that was only if this was under normal circumstances. This was anything but normal. My gift made the impossible possible. If I found myself in a situation where I would have to kill somebody, I would burn through all my options, repeatedly reseting over and over again until I found an alternative solution before I would ever consider taking a life. Trying to spare someone was far more difficult than killing them. It would take a great deal of persuasion before they lost the will to fight. Hell, I died twice against Toriel, and persuading her was nearly impossible, she wouldn’t listen half the time. But in the end, it was worth it. She changed after that, she became a bit more hopeful, she believes I could rehabilitate everyone, and she was right. I managed to turn Toriel into a more… sane person again. 

It would only take me a few tries. Granted, it wouldn’t be easy, there would probably be a great deal of suffering along the way, but I’m confident I could change the underground. Then, once we all make it up to the surface, I could rub my accomplishments in both Sans and Papyrus’ faces. Course there would be a great deal of explaining to do. Like how I knew a curtain situation would play out. How I knew where and when a specific individual would be. And how I seem to know about information we hadn’t discovered yet. I plan on telling them about my special gift. Flowey was against the idea when I first suggested it. He believed it wouldn’t had matter if I did, anyone who knew about my gift would ultimately forget about it. And maybe he was right, but we didn’t know if I would lose my gift if I left the underground. But that wouldn’t stop me from trying, it’s my gift, and I get to decide who I tell about.

A loud finger snap made me jolt in my seat. When my eyelids shot upon, Papyrus stood a lot closer than he had a minute ago. He kneeled down, brought his scared up face closer to mine. The single red digit in his socket glimmered faintly. I turned to look at the others, they had the same expressionless face Papyrus wore, neither of them made a sound, as if waiting for me to say something. I cleared my throat for no particular reason, carefully sorting out my thoughts, subconsciously running a hand through my hair. 

“I really appreciate everything you all are doing for me and I wish I could repay you in some way. I’ll also take everything we’ve discussed about into consideration. And if any of you feel like you were a little bit harsh on me, don’t be. It was honestly an eye-opener, now I get to work on my flaws so I don’t have you guys worrying about me all the time. And hey, we’re still in Snowdin, there’s no threat here, so let’s try to enjoy this day as much as possible. Beats sitting here being all serious, am I right?”

All three male individuals chuckle under their breaths, happy that the seriousness of the discussion long past us, even Aaron who was a complete stranger to me seemed delighted, even though he was muted the entire time. In no time did Papyrus stood back up to his full height, grinning wildly as usual. Sans lazy got up, as in he summoned a large bone out of a cloud of red smoke and used it to help himself up. I watched in amazement, while Papyrus grunted in disapproval of Sans recklessly using his magic, Sans didn’t pay attention, which only added more fuel to Papyrus ever growing frustration.

Aaron watched unfazed. His probably seen his fair share of bickering between these two. I myself, who had only spent about a day here was starting to grow accustomed to their constant fighting. Papyrus had been lecturing Sans about the importance of persevering his magic, Sans hardly paid attention, he found the floor more interesting than whatever Papyrus had he been blabbing on about. Sans turned his head, staring at me with that lazy smirk of his. He didn’t say anything, just starting at me like he had been entranced. Aaron gasped suddenly, he was rapidly glancing between me and Sans, like he figured out something shocking.

“Don’t worry about trying to repays us, Frisk. Yer already doing as a huge favor.” Sans said. He was pretty vague about it, but I didn’t interject. I wasn’t sure how I was helping, but if he said I was already doing something, then I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing up till now. Papyrus finally realized he wasn’t getting through his brother and gave up, not before grumbling something inaudible. “Welp, I should get ready for another 6 hours at work.” Sans disappeared in a cloud of red smoke, he flew a very flirty wink my way. That harmless gesture caught me by surprise, my face began heating up, a light chuckle was the last thing I heard before Sans disappeared a long with that bone of his.

“I TOO SHOULD GET READY FOR WORK. YOU REMEMBER WHERE WE KEEP THE SPARE KEY, AARON? IF YOU OR THE HUMAN GET HUNGRY THERE’S SPAGHETTI IN THE KITCHEN I PREPARED.”

Aaron grimaced at the mentioning of Papyrus’s homemade spaghetti, but nodded. I laughed when the realization hit me. At some point he must’ve tried the spaghetti in it’s earlier stage, back when it could actually kill a person. “Don’t worry, his gotten better, you can eat it and it’ll stay down.” I reassured Aaron. He wasn’t completely convinced, but didn’t voice it. An idea crossed my mind when our eyes locked. I should probably get to know more about the guy who’s getting paid to look after. Maybe I could learn more about those two goofy skeletons.

Papyrus excused himself, leaving us by our lonesome. It air grew silent even with the TV playing in the background. Neither of us said a word. No, neither of us had an idea for a conversation topic. Aaron idly played with his long hair, while I was contemplating what to say without it coming out forced. _**Why’s this so difficult for you?! You live in a society of monsters who kills like it’s the norm. You survived Toriel, even though you died twice. This is nothing compared to what you have experience. How many humans can say they’ve slept over at a skeletons house?**_ After my little pep talk, I slapped both my cheeks in frustration. I figured I should be the one take the initiative. Did I have a topic in mind? No. Was I eager to get out of these frequent loops of uncomfortableness? Oh yes. With nothing planned, I spoke.

“What do you do for a living?”

“On my days off I like to work out or help out old man Gerson with his business.”

“You help old people in your time? That’s so sweet of you! I bet you’re a hit with the ladies aren’t?

“Not really. Women tend to stay away since I’m affiliated with the Gasters. I don’t blame them. Dating someone who’s involve in a gang normally doesn’t end swell for both parties.”

“Gasters? Is that another gang here?”

“…”

“Uh… did I say something wrong?”

“Hehe. Are you telling me you’ve been living with the second most dangerous people in the entire underground and you don’t even know the name of there gang?”

“I’ve only been here for a few days. I’m still ignorant about a lot of things down here. But I’m not against learning more of this place.”

“There isn’t much to learn so you might want to abandon the idea.”

“Hey, Aaron. It just crossed my mind, but shouldn’t I be wearing a disguise. My appearance is just screaming come kill me.”

“Nah. The underground has monsters who resembles humans. It’s hard to differentiate, unless you look at the color of their soul. So just make sure you don’t give anyone the opportunity to CHECK, ok?

“Will do!

“Hey, Frisk was it?

“That’s right.”

“You mind if I ask a few questions of my own. It’s only fair.”

“Sure, I don’t mind. What you like to know?”

“What’s the surface like? Is it any better than… this.”

“Well, in my city it’s not much different than the underground, except killing isn’t legal. I haven’t explored outside my city, but I do know for a fact there are places around the world where it’s much more peaceful, like the countryside.”

“It would be nice, wouldn’t it? Living somewhere where cigar smoke and dust didn’t great you at every corner of every passing day. Live somewhere where people actually cared if somebody kicked the bucket.”

“I was saving up so I could leave my city. But I’m not wealthy be no means, didn’t have enough to move out and my job didn’t exactly pay well.”

“What kind of job did you do?”

“Oh, I worked as a baker for a few years.”

“Worked?”

“Let’s just say… the owners aren’t around anymore.”

“Oh.” Was all Aaron said. He definitely knew what I meant by that. His been around the block longer than I have. Seriously, what am I gonna do when we get out of here. I need a job. There isn’t much bakeries in the city. The only other one I can think of is on the other side of the city, where the crime rates are at its highest, with corrupted police force roaming those areas. That’ll be a fun experience for me, wouldn’t it? Speaking of jobs, I should get back to Riley.

“Hey, Aaron. Did Sans or Papyrus tell you about my day job?”

“They haven’t informed me about that, sorry. But I don’t mind tagging along, I’ll find something to keep me busy in the mean time, make sure nobody gets a bit handy with you.”

“Thank you. Your really nice, you know that?”

“The only reason why I’m nice is because you’ve been very polite.”

“Ah. So your one of those people, huh? You’ll treat people the same way how they treat, right?”

“Bingo. If your rude to me I’ll be rude to you. But I don’t do that to everyone, if I had done that then I would’ve died along time ago.”

“True. You need to be careful who you bark at, that’s something I’ve learned early on in life.”

“It’s a useful skill to have, it can save your life someday.”

“It can actually.”

Me and Aaron chatted for some time before Papyrus came back down, Sans not far behind him. Every looked about ready to head off to their own separate locations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All comments are welcomed!!


End file.
